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WHY WLAD ISN'T KING
Wladimir Klitschko is the premiere heavyweight of this era. With a six-foot six-inch frame that looks like a replica of Bourdelle’s Hercules the Archer and a disposition that evokes Rodin’s The Thinker, he casts an imperial shadow over everything beneath him. His record stands at 58-3 with 50 knockouts and it shines bright enough to bring to mind diadems and golden scepters. It has been over eight years since he lost—since the spirit of Jack Dempsey possessed Lamon Brewster and turned him inside out, and he has gone on to defeat nearly every rival in the division. As a result, his well-earned status as the premiere heavyweight in the world has been upgraded to an unearned status as heavyweight champion of the world.
THE RING was behind his coronation.
On June 20th 2009, Wlad, then ranked number one, induced a global epidemic of narcolepsy when he waltzed to victory in a fight HBO wisely declined to broadcast. His opponent was third-ranked Ruslan Chagaev, a late substitute who lost every round and quit on his stool. Nevertheless, The Ring recognized Wlad as its champion.
Why would the most prestigious ratings body since the 1920s, a ratings body that sought to determine “the true champions” in every division, allow a shortcut to the throne?
In its April 2002 issue, THE RING announced a new championship policy that sought to validate a surge of marquee fighters who had been unifying the alphabet belts, among them Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones, and Bernard Hopkins. While the overriding goal was to return integrity to championship boxing, then managing editor Eric Raskin said, “there’s no denying that we wanted to fill vacancies whenever we felt it was justifiable.” So, in addition to the perfectly sensible criterion of crowning champions after “a box-off” between the number one and number two contenders, the editors stretched the logic a bit: “Or, in certain instances,” they added, “a box-off between our number one- and number three-contenders.”
“We talked it over, and we agreed it made sense,” Raskin said. “If there wasn’t much to separate #2 from #3, if it felt like #2 didn’t have some strong claim to needing to be involved in a title fight, we could sometimes recognize #1 vs. #3.”
At the time Wlad faced Chagaev, the second-ranked contender was elder brother and fellow giant Vitali Klitschko. Despite the obvious fact that there was much to separate him from Chagaev, then Editor-in-chief Nigel Collins buffed up THE RING magazine belt. “A match between Wladimir and No. 3 contender Chagaev meets THE RING'S criterion,” Collins said, because “the brothers have stated many times that they will never fight.”
“We promised our mom not to fight each other,” Wlad said. “I wouldn’t do it, even for $1 billion…you can’t put a price on your mother’s heart.” In other words, the flagship division is being held hostage by Ma Klitschko. Her sons are dutiful all right but the whole thing is hard to fathom in certain neighborhoods where brothers fight like LaMottas every Sunday or so. The Toledo brothers spent years swapping pleather in the parking lot, stone-deaf to Ma in the window and we’re better for it.
The first application of the provision is harder to defend. In February 2004, Lennox Lewis retired and THE RING was eager to fill his throne, no doubt believing it was in the best interest of the sport. A semi-retired Corrie Sanders had stopped Wlad and so advanced to number three in a division as deep as a puddle. Vitali, then number one, vowed to avenge Wlad and THE RING declared this gesture of brotherly love a championship bout. Ignored was Chris Byrd, who owned a stoppage win over Vitali and was ranked number two.
It should be noted that THE RING acted in good faith despite the controversy; and at least one former editor has had second thoughts. “If we had it to do over,” Raskin said recently, “we probably wouldn’t include that provision.”
In May 2012, that provision was expanded into absurdity by a new, Golden Boy-installed editorial board. THE RING, they said, failed to determine boxing’s true champions because so many thrones remain unfilled, which is akin to claiming that coastal erosion is the fault of the lighthouse keeper or smog is the fault of the traffic cop. Their response does away with the concept of “true champions” altogether and suspiciously advances the secondary objective of filling vacant thrones. And who is the beneficiary? Fans fed up with the glut of make-pretend champions? Certainly not. The beneficiary behind the change is the promotional company behind THE RING.
Here’s an eye-opener. If the editors apply the revised policy allowing first or second-ranked contenders to face third, fourth, or fifth-ranked contenders, THE RING can indeed fill more of its vacant championships, but would that be in the best interests of the sport? Look closely: If Floyd Mayweather (#1) fights either Saul Alvarez (#3) or Erislandy Lara (#4) at junior middleweight, if Mayweather (#2) fights Paulie Malignaggi (#4) at welterweight, if Chris John (#2) fights Daniel Ponce De Leon (#4) at featherweight, and if Anselmo Moreno (#1) fights Leo Santa Cruz (#5) at bantamweight, the end result could be four more Golden Boy champions no matter who wins. The plain fact that every one of them is a Golden Boy fighter placed in position by a Golden Boy-owned ratings body makes any presumption of good faith naïve.
The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board is picking up where THE RING fell down. We begin with a corrective: The provision that installed the Klitschkos on the throne has no standing. “When a champion retires or vacates the championship, the first-ranked contender must fight the second-ranked contender to fill the vacancy,” the charter states. “Lesser contenders do not constitute the best, and the fact that they are allowed to compete for vacant championships by other organizations does not make them so. The gravitas of the true championship will be vitiated no longer. Therefore, no allowances for third, fourth, and fifth-ranked contenders will be made.”
Light heavyweight Chad Dawson, super middleweight Andre Ward, middleweight Sergio Martinez, junior featherweight Nonito Donaire, and flyweight Toshiyuki Igarashi are kings who earned their thrones the hard way—the only way that makes sense in a combat sport. Seventy claimants crowd them, propped up by the so-called sanctioning bodies and Golden Boy’s magazine. The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board defies any notion that claimants are anything more than contenders; and this includes the Klitschko brothers, who have indeed defeated nearly every rival in the heavyweight division but have yet to defeat the only one that matters. We will not refer to any of them as “belt-holders,” “title-holders,” “titlists” or other terms suggesting that they are what they are not. We will not rubber-stamp shortcuts or confuse the premiere fighter in a division with royalty. A throne must be seized, never assumed.
Whether the twelve remaining thrones will be seized or even recognized amid the false glitter of yesterday’s belts depends on the fans’ willingness to seize the future.
The stakes are high. Boxing has become a sport without universally recognized champions—and a sport without universally recognized champions recedes into irrelevance. The consequences are plain to see. Go to ESPN.com’s main page to find your boxing update; you won’t see it mentioned in the menu bar; you’ll have to click on “More Sports” and then scroll down to find it—under women’s basketball. We have devolved into an odd and insulated subculture unable to separate sense from nonsense, rightfully ridiculed by the rest of the sports world. Keyboard critics aren’t helping. Too many attack WBC President José Sulaimán as a little tin god and then turn around and acknowledge the WBC belt as if it meant what Sulaimán says it means.
Ultimately, the problem isn’t little tin gods. It isn’t THE RING either, despite their hopelessly compromised ratings. The problem is us. Will we keep sitting around with spit buckets over our heads or stand up in the corner?
—The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board has already come out fighting.
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The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board’s website is at www.tbrb.org.
Graphic: “The Empty Throne” by Vajrasimha. http://vajrasimha.deviantart.com/art/The-empty-throne-139743853
Thanks to Eric Raskin for his assistance and honesty.
Springs Toledo is a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and can be reached at scalinatella@hotmail.com.
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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce
Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.
Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.
The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.
In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.
It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.
For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.
Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.
It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.
“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”
Trinidad Wins Too
Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.
Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.
“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”
After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.
Other Bouts
Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.
Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.
Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.
More Winners
Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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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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