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Atlas, Steward and Goldsticker On How To Fix USA Boxing
Teddy Atlas has never met an opinion he won't offer. It is in his fiber to keep it real, and tell it like it is, and if feathers get ruffled, well, tough tamales. The ESPN analyst offered up some suggestions and critiques about USA Boxing after the Games ended in London, with the lone bright spots coming on the women's side, with Claressa Shields' gold and Marlen Esparza's bronze.
First off, Atlas said in the future, he'd like to have desire and attitude factored in more when choosing a team. “I'd rather have guys less that are less athletic and care more about representing us and the opportunity, taking it as an honor,” he said a few days after coming back from his three week stay in London.
“We have to re-think the whole system,” he said. That starts with some Romney-style management decisions. “The first thing is, there have to be a lot of pink slips,” he said, with an eye on the USA Boxing brain trust. “It's badly organized, badly run, just like AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association, which oversaw the London tourney, and has been accused of corruption).”
Here's a quickie refresher on the banana-peel laden path to the London Games…
Choosing a coach a month before the Games, as was done when Basheer Abdullah was inserted after Joe Zanders was yanked from his position before the Games, just a few months after replacing Dan Campbell, who oversaw the 2008 squad, which also stank the joint out, certainly didn't help matters. You'll recall the 2008 squad was in rampant disarray, with fighters in a constant state of mutiny. As Gary Russell Sr. put it to Mitch Abramson of the NY Daily News after the Beijing Games, “(Campbell) had so many arguments with these boxers it's like he's setting them all up for failure. He's threatened to throw Sadam (Ali), Demetrius, Rau'Shee (Warren), Javier (Molina), Gary Russel Jr. and Luis all off the team. That's six boxers, more than half the team. Something has to be wrong if you're threatening to get rid of half the team. It can't all be the fault of the boxers.” Campbell “retired” a bit after Beijing, and one had to think that things could only get better. Joe Zanders was hired as the US national coach in January 2011, one might say an awful long time to go without a head of the program following the Campbell departure. But then there was reason for optimism; we heard that personal coaches would get more input with the kids, and that Freddie Roach would come in and lend a hand. Zanders got the official title of head coach for London in August 2011, and publicy, things seemed to be OK. He and Roach seemingly–seemingly– co-existed nicely. But in mid March, word came that Zanders was out after the USA showing at the 2011 worlds–a lone bronze for the Stars and Stripers– didn't impress the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Or, “promoted,” as the release put it, in yet another example of the goofy workings of USA Boxing. The Roach experiment went awry with whispers that Zanders didn't care for Freddie's presence all that much. And the release of tape of Roach labeling super heavyweight Michael Hunter as “lazy” further poisoned the waters. Basheer Adullah, who coached the 2004 squad, was named head coach on June 27, a scant month before the games kicked off. Things went goofy again a few days before the first bout, when it was learned that Abdullah couldn't coach ringside, because he'd been involved with pros too recently. This shouldn't have been a WTH moment for USA Boxing officials making such decisions, as it wasn't some obscure rule added to the rulebook at the 11th hour, under darkness. So, with Adullah yelling instructions away from ringside, and personal coaches using bullhorns to yell instructions to fighters from rows back in the arena, the fighters got fighting, and you know how that turned out.
Atlas would like the coach to be picked a good spell in advance, so that guy can help carve out a system, and see the athletes at tourneys, and trials. Whether that occurs is up to the gang that runs USA Boxing; Anthony Bartkowski is the director. As for a head coach, Atlas is more than open to a foreigner taking over the reigns. A Cuban would be stellar, as they've had success with the points system in place. Brit Terry Edwards in fact was rumored to have the job before it landed in Abdullah's lap, so it seems that possibility is in play.
Another thing we might see if Atlas had his druthers. The Staten Islander likes what the NFL does, using the intelligence and problem solving test, the Wonderlic Test, to weed out problems before the draft.
Hey, what about you, Teddy? Would Atlas take the reins, and coach the squad in Brazil in 2016, if asked?
“They'd have to fire people first,” he said. “I wouldn't do it like Freddie Roach, show up and have it be like a photo opp. I'd want to do something if I could make a difference.”
One man who has tasted extreme success in the pro ranks, and thought he could help resurrect the Team USA fortunes is Emanuel Steward. The trainer-manager-TV analyst-promoter chatted with TSS about how to address our medal drought.
Steward agreed that the correct word is “disaster” when evaluating the showing by the men in London. Steward, who acted as national director of coaching for USA Boxing heading into the 2004 Olympics in Greece, has become so disenchanted with the American amateur muddle, that he admitted he basically knows almost nothing about any of the fighters who comprised the team. “Now I didn't even know who was on the team,” he admitted to me.
“The whole program fell part,” he told me. “The last team of note was maybe 1988,” he said, allowing that the rare diamond like Andre Ward, in 2004, still occasionally shines through the gloom.
Steward said the US used to produce superb athletes in track and field, and boxing, but no more. The question begs…why?
Start with the lack of international compeition, Steward said. back in 1974, 1975, heading toward the Games in Montreal, boxers who were a lock for the US squad were fighting frequently in tournaments pitting USA vs Cuba, and Poland and Germany, Steward said. “And by the time the Olympics came, they were already household names,” he said, noting that the tourneys also gave the fighters ample seasoning, something this squad lacked bigtime. “I'm a manager, and I've never heard of these guys,” he said. “Get them on TV!”
Ray Leonard and Leon Spinks lost at overseas tourneys, and learned how to bounce back, he said. Also, the judges working those shows, some of whom would work in the Olympics, became familiar, in a good way, with the boxers.
The way the world looks at America doesn't help matters, the Kronk sage stated. “We've created so many enemies,” he said. “They lok at America as the rich, spoiled brat. They don't believe that the team has little funding, that there's no money in the amateur program.” Thus, the Hall of Famer implied, it is not mere sour grapes when we hear analysts complain that judges are screwing over Americans during Olympic bouts. It is payback time, to a degree, for the policies and attitude of our nation, in the geo-political arena. America is seen as somewhat of a bully that needs a takedown; but also, many folks still aspire to make it here, so they look up to our fighters, and raise their games that much more to impress watchers. If I beat the American, they tend to think, that is a meaningful victory.
Julie Goldsticker, who ran the media relations for the team, and has done work for USA Boxing since 2001, is quite likely the single best source if you are looking for the one person who has seen what the program has done right, and wrong, in the last decade. So I asked for her input on how to tweak USA Boxing, so we start getting the medal count, and turning out the sort of fighters most think America is capable of turning out.
“Everyone wants one answer,” she told me. “They wonder why we didn't succeed, they probably need more international experience, and more time with the coaches in their corner, and other stuff, there isn't one easy fix.”
Budget cuts, by the USOC, certainly had a huge effect on the team, she agreed. The budget for USA Boxing was cut after the last Games, because of a poor medal count, and the fear is that trend will continue. Less than $500,000 for a year, to pay salaries, and fund travel to tournaments overseas, so the kids can get seasoning, doesn't cut it. Goldsticker would love to see some of the alumni step up, and open up their checkbook, to fill the vacuum.
“Oscar de la Hoya had a lot to say during the Games,” she noted. “We've reached out to him a lot, and if it's money, or time, if he just wants to give his time, we'd love the help. If Oscar wanted to fund an international event, he could.” Goldsticker, who does PR work for Andre Ward, says Ward has done his part giving back to USA Boxing.
She said that picking a coach early is on the radar of USA Boxing, so hopefully, the continuity issue will be attended to, so we aren't repeating this same column, or, at least, that same element of the column, after Brazil.
For those hoping, as I do, that personal coaches, guys who have been working with fighters for five, seven or more years, will get to travel to the Olympics, and work the corners of the fighters…sorry. Goldsticker says that there are only so many credentials to go round, that it would be too unwieldy to allow a personal coach for every person on the team. Thus, she said, it is super important for personal coaches to get onboard with the system devised by the national team head.
Readers, feel free to pitch in with your ideas. After all, this is the Team USA we are talking about. It is “your” team, they represent you as a nation. If you have some ideas on how to get things moving in the right direction; I will collect them, and present them down the line to someone at USA Boxing, and see if we can't collectively help get us to where we want to be, where we can be, where we should be.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More
Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More
Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.
Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.
Hopefully the worst is over.
Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.
“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.
Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.
“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.
He knows talent.
Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.
Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.
Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.
Can Trinidad reach world title status?
Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.
It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.
Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.
Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
Boxing and the Media
The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.
Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.
Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.
Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.
MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.
Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.
Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.
It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.
Photos credit: Lina Baker
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Boxing Trainer Bob Santos Paid his Dues and is Reaping the Rewards
Bob Santos, the 2022 Sports Illustrated and The Ring magazine Trainer of the Year, is a busy fellow. On Feb. 1, fighters under his tutelage will open and close the show on the four-bout main portion of the Prime Video PPV event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Jeison Rosario continues his comeback in the lid-lifter, opposing Jesus Ramos. In the finale, former Cuban amateur standout David Morrell will attempt to saddle David Benavidez with his first defeat. Both combatants in the main event have been chasing 168-pound kingpin Canelo Alvarez, but this bout will be contested for a piece of the light heavyweight title.
When the show is over, Santos will barely have time to exhale. Before the month is over, one will likely find him working the corner of Dainier Pero, Brian Mendoza, Elijah Garcia, and perhaps others.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) turned 28 last month. He is in the prime of his career. However, a lot of folk rate Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) a very live dog. At last look, Benavidez was a consensus 7/4 (minus-175) favorite, a price that betokens a very competitive fight.
Bob Santos, needless to say, is confident that his guy can upset the odds. “I have worked with both,” he says. “It’s a tough fight for David Morrell, but he has more ways to victory because he’s less one-dimensional. He can go forward or fight going back and his foot speed is superior.”
Benavidez’s big edge, in the eyes of many, is his greater experience. He captured the vacant WBC 168-pound title at age 20, becoming the youngest super middleweight champion in history. As a pro, Benavidez has answered the bell for 148 rounds compared with only 54 for Morrell, but Bob Santos thinks this angle is largely irrelevant.
“Sure, I’d rather have pro experience than amateur experience,” he says, “but if you look at Benavidez’s record, he fought a lot of soft opponents when he was climbing the ladder.”
True. Benavidez, who turned pro at age 16, had his first seven fights in Mexico against a motley assortment of opponents. His first bout on U.S. soil occurred in his native Pheonix against an opponent with a 1-6-2 record.
While it’s certainly true that Morrell, 26, has yet to fight an opponent the caliber of Caleb Plant, he took up boxing at roughly the same tender age as Benavidez and earned his spurs in the vaunted Cuban amateur system, eventually defeating elite amateurs in international tournaments.
“If you look at his [pro] record, you will notice that [Morrell] has hardly lost a round,” says Santos of the fighter who captured an interim title in only his third professional bout with a 12-round decision over Guyanese veteran Lennox Allen.
Bob Santos is something of a late bloomer. He was around boxing for a long time, assisting such notables as Joe Goossen, Emanuel Steward, and Ronnie Shields before becoming recognized as one of the sport’s top trainers.
A native of San Jose, he grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood but not in a household where Spanish was spoken. “I know enough now to get by,” he says modestly. He attended James Lick High School whose most famous alumnus is Heisman winning and Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett. “We worked in the same apricot orchard when we were kids,” says Santos. “Not at the same time, but in the same field.”
After graduation, he followed his father’s footsteps into construction work, but boxing was always beckoning. A cousin, the late Luis Molina, represented the U.S. as a lightweight in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, and was good enough as a pro to appear in a main event at Madison Square Garden where he lost a narrow decision to the notorious Puerto Rican hothead Frankie Narvaez, a future world title challenger.
Santos’ cousin was a big draw in San Jose in an era when the San Jose / Sacramento territory was the bailiwick of Don Chargin. “Don was a beautiful man and his wife Lorraine was even nicer,” says Santos of the husband/wife promotion team who are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Don Chargin was inducted in 2001 and Lorraine posthumously in 2018.
Chargin promoted Fresno-based featherweight Hector Lizarraga who captured the IBF title in 1997. Lizarraga turned his career around after a 5-7-3 start when he hooked up with San Jose gym operator Miguel Jara. It was one of the most successful reclamation projects in boxing history and Bob Santos played a part in it.
Bob hopes to accomplish the same turnaround with Jeison Rosario whose career was on the skids when Santos got involved. In his most recent start, Rosario held heavily favored Jarrett Hurd to a draw in a battle between former IBF 154-pound champions on a ProBox card in Florida.
“I consider that one of my greatest achievements,” says Santos, noting that Rosario was stopped four times and effectively out of action for two years before resuming his career and is now on the cusp of earning another title shot.
The boxer with whom Santos is most closely identified is former four-division world title-holder Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. The slick southpaw, the pride of Gilroy, California, the self-proclaimed “Garlic Capital of the World,” retired following a bad loss to Omar Figueroa Jr, but had second thoughts and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak. “I’ve known him since he was 15 years old,” notes Santos.
Years from now, Santos may be more closely identified with the Pero brothers, Dainier and Lenier, who aspire to be the Cuban-American version of the Klitschko brothers.
Santos describes Dainier, one of the youngest members of Cuba’s Olympic Team in Tokyo, as a bigger version of Oleksandr Usyk. That may be stretching it, but Dainier (10-0, 8 KOs as a pro), certainly hits harder.
This reporter was a fly on the wall as Santos put Dainier Pero through his paces on Tuesday (Jan. 14) at Bones Adams gym in Las Vegas. Santos held tight to a punch shield, in the boxing vernacular a donut, as the Cuban practiced his punches. On several occasions the trainer was knocked off-balance and the expression on his face as his body absorbed some of the after-shocks, plainly said, “My goodness, what the hell am I doing here? There has to be an easier way to make a living.” It was an assignment that Santos would have undoubtedly preferred handing off to his young assistant, his son Joe Santos, but Joe was preoccupied coordinating David Morrell’s camp.
Dainer’s brother Lenier is also an ex-Olympian, and like Dainier was a super heavyweight by trade as an amateur. With an 11-0 (8 KOs) record, Lenier Pero’s pro career was on a parallel path until stalled by a managerial dispute. Lenier last fought in March of last year and Santos says he will soon join his brother in Las Vegas.
There’s little to choose between the Pero brothers, but Dainier is considered to have the bigger upside because at age 25 he is the younger sibling by seven years.
Bob Santos was in the running again this year for The Ring magazine’s Trainer of the Year, one of six nominees for the honor that was bestowed upon his good friend Robert Garcia. Considering the way that Santos’ career is going, it’s a safe bet that he will be showered with many more accolades in the years to come.
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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.
Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.
There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).
This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.
This was a huge upset.
Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.
Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.
Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.
The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.
At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.
“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.
Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.
Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.
Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.
By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.
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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