What Gives? No TV for Women’s Boxing (Part Two)

Published

11 years ago

March 6, 2013

I’ve had about a week to think about it, and I still don’t get it. Women’s boxing is more appealing to me than all the other women’s sports that are getting televised, stuff like women’s basketball or golf. I mean, it’s boxing. You had me there, television…so why no women’s boxing? Did those sports go through the same thing? I mean, should golf (men or women) even be televised in the first place? Sigh.

I digress. In part one of this reflection, the wife told me women’s boxing doesn’t make it to television because the bigwig program directors simply don’t know what they’re doing. Flyweight champion Ava Knight echoed the very same sentiment. She told me no one will give her, or her talented cohort of contemporaries, a chance. Give us a chance, she says. A chance!

Still, I’m a fair-minded man. Two or three people saying the same thing doesn’t make it fact, so I decided to reach out to a few more people I know about the situation. First up was Kaliesha West, one of the top women champions in the sport today.

What do you think about it, Kaliesha? Why can’t women’s boxing get on TV?

“I’ve heard so many different reasons and they all sound the same. They all sound like someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. They’re just looking for an answer to shut-up whoever is asking the question. We need someone on top in boxing who knows what they’re talking about to coordinate female matches on every single major undercard there is…and to make sure it’s a female fighter who’s on top of her stuff, who knows what she’s doing. But they won’t do that. They’re just following the same thing that has been going on for years. And everyone is afraid to break it. No one has enough juevos to stand up, put it on and promote it.”

So far, Kaliesha seems to be on the same page as my wife and Ava. Still, I say, what happened? Remember the glory days of women’s boxing, Kaliesha? Laila Ali and Mia St. Jo—

“NO! What happened in those days was Mia St. John was on the cover of Playboy. Laila Ali is Laila Ali. All she had to do was say she wanted to be a tennis player and she’d been a famous tennis player, or a racquetball player and she’d been a famous racquetball player. Her name is what speaks. She had no amateur background, and she became a champion by fighting a lot ducks. Then you had Christy Martin, who was that diamond in the rough who had skill like the men. She’d go in there with girls who’d fight like it was a street fight or something, so yeah, she’d go in there and look spectacular, she looked great. She was a lot like female fighters who fight today, who fight great—today. But there has been no era of female boxing. There’s never been an era of female’s boxing!”

By now, I’m sort of afraid to ask anything more. West is practically screaming at me so I sheepishly ask what can change the sport for the better, mostly so I don’t have to talk for very long.

“It’s gonna take someone special. Someone who not only knows the science behind it, but someone who knows how to be a true champion in and out of the ring. It’s gonna take someone who not only represents women’s boxing, but also never lets it go unknown that the state of women’s boxing is crap.”

Maybe she’s calmed down a bit, or maybe my bravery is now buoyed by the realization that I’m phone with her and not within her physical reach, but I ask her about Ali again. Hasn’t she had that pedestal? Wouldn’t she speak up if it were really that bad?

“Laila Ali is about Laila Ali. I mean, if it doesn’t pertain to her, she isn’t interested. If I was in her shoes and I had a girl to come up to me who was world champion and tell her the struggle, I would feel for her and try to help. I would fight for her and the dozens other like. Just like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just like that female tennis player, Billy Jean King. That special type of person is not on that platform right now.”

What West tells me isn’t all doom and gloom, just most of it. She says she’s excited for the new opportunities women are finding in the amateur game right now. She says it’s something that has never really been afforded women in the past, and she had tremendous things to say about our United States gold medalist Claressa Shields.

“I love Claressa Shields. She’s a real champion. She’s been knocking people out all over!”

Still, West knows what Claressa knows: it’s not just winning that matters. Despite being the first and possibly greatest female amateur boxer in the history of the United States, it isn’t Shields who received the most attention, it was bronze medalist Marlen Esparza.

I tell West my wife and I were surprised about what happened after the Olympics, or rather what didn’t happen. Claressa Shields was widely ignored. She wasn’t offered even half the slew of endorsements Marlen received before the Olympics started, and she wasn’t offered anything substantial enough by a boxing promoter to leave the amateur scene all together. What gives? Why didn’t the first appearance of women’s boxing in the Olympics really do anything for the sport?

“Honestly, I didn’t expect anything. You know why? Because I knew the one who was getting the love and getting attention was not going to open her mouth for the rest of us.”

What can be done, Kaliesha?

“There is nothing anyone can do unless they’re that lucky favorite. Marlen is the lucky favorite. She’s got entertainment and Hollywood behind her. It’s so sad the way it is for Claressa. She’s not getting endorsements the way she should be. But she’s young enough to turn into another Anne Wolfe…but even ten times better! She knows a little of what it is like for the professionals now. She won a gold medal and it was empty at the top. We won world titles in other countries and it was empty at the top. Thank God she’s young enough…”

Damn, Kaliesha. Damn.

Truth be told, Kaliesha is one of the most entertaining fighters I’ve ever talked to in the sport. She brings everything to the table. She’s smart, genial and she knows how to stir things up. She’s Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Emilia Earhart. She’s fascinating to the point of proving all on her very own that the naysayers are wrong about women’s boxing. I stumbled across a feature done on her in the UK for a sports magazine program called Trans World Sport. Basically, it took the producers about 13 minutes to put every single U.S. television outlet to shame. The dynamic between the fighter and her father/trainer, Juan West, is Shane and Jack Mosley times ten. The feature shows a fighter more interesting than a prime Oscar De La Hoya ever was, yet she continues to languish in relative obscurity because the programming decision-makers are refusing to look for anything other than the next male boxing star.

I finish up my foray into questioning the powers that be with a discussion with Kaliesha’s father. Juan West was a boxing champion in the Navy and fought six fights as a professional before deciding to become a trainer. He’s helped bring along several notable amateur and professional fighters, including heavyweight Chris Arreola. Maybe he’ll paint a more positive outlook on the situation women are facing.

“The world of boxing is full of hustlers and frauds. I’ve had fighters who began training ten years after Kaliesha and they were televised first. They didn’t have the style, the charisma or the skillset she has. They were just male.”

Nope. Juan paints as bleak a picture as ever. He wants to get Kaliesha on television but opportunities to do so are few and far between. It’s almost impossible, he tells me.

“It’s a monopoly for men. Women just have to fall into a slot. They have to be on standby and be lucky and end up on television by coincidence. As far as on purpose? It’s been impossible. Kaliesha has been televised about six or seven times now, always in other countries. Never in the United States. It’s a shame.”

But why is this happening?

“Lately, the promoters have just been pretty much chauvinistic thinking the women in the world aren’t worthy of being on television. I know that if anyone would have watched Claressa Shields in there winning her gold medal, they’d have seen a fighter just as good as Mike Tyson in there at destroying women bigger than her. That right there should’ve been the grand opening but it didn’t open any doors for women. People aren’t’ going to view what they don’t know anything about, so they’re going to have take those fighters like Kaliesha, Claressa Shields and Ava Knight, the ones that are extraordinary, and follow their careers.”

Juan tells me he and Kaliesha are happy to talk to me. He says the two can be as open and honest about the situation as anyone because they have absolutely nothing to lose. Let that sink in for a second. She’s one of the more recognizable women in the sport, the bantamweight champion, and she’s got nothing to lose.

Nothing.

At the end of things, I believe I am convinced. Something has to give for the women to be successful, and that something has to be us. We need to support them, and where television networks or promoters or advertisers are refusing to do so, we should demand it. It’s something that has to be done. Women deserve just as fair a shake as men do in the sport. And let’s face it, the standard of fairness in our beloved boxing is already set so low, it can’t be too difficult to achieve.

My dear friends, I can’t tell you how often my eyes have been subjected to a bout between two men who didn’t deserve to be fighting on television. There simply has to be room, then, for a few women who do.

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Kelsey McCarson

Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

18 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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