TSS SPECIAL REPORT: What Happened in Texas

Published

12 years ago

April 15, 2013

As another Texas-sized boxing event approaches with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Austin Trout, TSS looks back at last year’s middleweight battle between Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Andy Lee. Did the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s Combative Sports division do their job? Did journalists do any better? Is there anything we can learn from what did (or didn’t) happen last summer in El Paso?

Last summer, middleweights Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Andy Lee agreed to face each other in El Paso, Texas in a 12-round bout for Chavez’s WBC middleweight title belt. The contest would help determine which talented up-and-comer would earn a lucrative opportunity against linear champion and pound-for-pound superstar, Sergio Martinez.

What ended up happening in Texas that summer was more than just a fight. What happened in Texas changed the way I think about the sport of boxing and the journalists who cover it.

The Long and Winding Road

Honestly, at the time of the fight, they were my two favorite middleweights. As a boxing writer in Texas, I had attended Chavez’s two preceding bouts against Peter Manfredo in Houston and Marco Antonio Rubio in San Antonio. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt but that’s a boldfaced lie. The exact opposite is more often the case. Chavez had grown on me.

As for Andy Lee, he’s just one of those fighters who happen to appeal to me for some reason. The Irishman has a pleasant demeanor, is articulate and fights from a southpaw stance; all characteristics I admire. Plus, my personal interaction with him revealed we seem to enjoy the same kind of things: humor, music and movies.

Either man, I thought at the time, would be the one to dethrone the aging Martinez. Still, El Paso is a long way away from Houston, and Texas is not like other states: one does not simply pile into a car to drive to its outermost boundaries. Right?

As it so happened, it actually wasn’t so far outside the realm of possibility to not happen. The McCarson clan, consisting of your TSS scribe and his wife/photographer, Rachel, did decide by unanimous vote that the fight was well worth the 745 mile drive across the long, serpentine highways through lonely parts of Texas. After all, eleven hours in a car is nothing compared to witnessing in person one of the better fights of the year between two of your favorite fighters. Off we went.

Weighty Issues

The customary Friday afternoon weigh-in before the Saturday night bout was anything but normal, despite my report submitted that evening:

Middleweights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andy Lee both made weight Friday ahead of their scheduled showdown in El Paso, Texas. The bout will be televised live Saturday on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET.

Challenger Andy Lee was first to the scale where officials announced a weight of 159.25 pounds. The usually mild-mannered Lee appeared focused and determined, even going so far as to wear a scowl for the majority of the time he stood on the dais.

Next up was Chavez, who was cheered on heavily by the robust, pro-Mexican crowd of spectators who had waited patiently in line outside the venue to see him before jamming themselves into one of the city’s more famous landmarks, the historic Plaza Theatre.

Chavez, son of legendary Mexican champion of the same name, has developed a reputation as of late for not taking training camps as seriously as perhaps his handlers would like, but he looked fit and ready to rumble this go around, weighing in at 159 pounds.

Both fighters appeared to be in impeccable shape and ready to fight. While fans of Chavez made up the majority of spectators present as expected, there was a noticeable contingent of pro-Lee supporters donning classic gold and black Kronk gym colors there as well.

What’s missing from the report is what I did not see. I did not see the contention on Team Lee’s faces as they argued over the weight of Chavez’s gloves. I did not see them argue with Top Rank officials and trainer Freddie Roach about the construction of Chavez’s gloves, did not see Lee put his own glove on the scale to prove it met the 10 oz middleweight requirement, did not see Texas official Robert Tapia refuse Lee’s request for reasons only he could fathom.

What else did I miss? At 159 pounds, was Chavez “fit and ready” as I noted above? Or was he, as others said at the time, disturbingly gaunt?

A Night at the Bar

A popular song in the Lone Star State says “the stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas.” What is said about the night’s sky was also true of the hotel bar that night. For despite being in the relatively secluded area of El Paso, the boxing’s biggest stars were out in full force.

Completed in 1912, this historic Camino Real is a truly magnificent building. The old world spaciousness and attention to detail is a special refuge from what passes for glamour in today’s increasingly postmodernly simple world. Under the cut-glass chandeliers, surrounded by hand-carved marble, said to be carefully crafted by Italian workmen over a century ago, the boxing world got together and had some drinks.

Larry Merchant is knocking them back with fans before turning it in for the night early. Over in the corner, Bob Arum chats with Harold Lederman, each stopping their conversation whenever necessary to submit to passerby requests for pictures or autographs. Irish middleweight Matt Macklin slouches comfortably in a foyer lazy boy, telling all who will listen it will be Lee’s day tomorrow. Peddlers hock shirts and hats with “Chavez” emblazoned across them in red, green and white letters to anyone who will have them. Many will.

Rachel and I are here now, too, over from our quaint Microtel to meet Twitter friends Eoin Casey and Paddy Cronan at the fancy fight hotel. Eoin and Paddy are there when we arrive, chatting it up with boxing trainer Ronnie Shields about tomorrow’s big bout. The Irishmen like Lee’s chances. Shields isn’t so sure, but after a few drinks of our own, Rachel and I do our best to help convince him otherwise.

Suddenly, Jim Lampley enters the fray. Jim snakes his way around the crowd to one of the happy bartenders in the middle of the room to order his fare. He heads back to the elevator when laughter erupts from nearby. It’s our table, because Paddy and Eoin have pointed out something a little peculiar: Lampley isn’t wearing any shoes.

The night ends with more alcohol than it probably should have. Eoin and Paddy are younger than I (at least at heart), so they employ their special Irish brand of vitality to head out and see what other nightlife El Paso has to offer. The McCarsons, meanwhile, put discretion before valor and head back to their sensibly sized mini-sized suite near the airport to rest up for the big fight.

Before drifting off to sleep, I send a direct message to Andy Lee on Twitter. I tell him how excited everyone seems at the hotel and how everyone I talked to believes in him. I do not mention Ronnie Shields, whose concerned look has me questioning my own pick by morning.

Snipers at the Sun Bowl

It almost didn’t happen, in El Paso anyway.

Just two months before the fight, The University of Texas System Chancellor, Francisco G. Cigarroa, forbade the fight from happening at the University of Texas El Paso’s football stadium, the Sun Bowl, citing numerous but vague security concerns. The people of El Paso simply weren’t having it. They wanted a big fight and they would have it. A coordinated effort from the community as well as numerous University of Texas at El Paso officials convinced Cigarroa to reverse his position in short order. Cigarroa's concession came with conditions, though, including the prohibition of alcohol at the event.

Whether warranted or not, Cigarroa’s actions created tons of tension the night of the fight, so much so, in fact, that the Associated Press sent not one, but two reporters to ringside that evening. One of the men there, Bart Barry, was tasked with standard fight report duties. The other, Juan Carlos Llorca, was sent to capture any and all nonboxing events that might occur at the Sun Bowl related to the supposed danger for which Cigarroa was so fearful.

As the sun receded behind the surrounding Franklin mountain range, the threat of rain fell with it. Lined around the top of the stadium’s room, silent guardians appeared as statuesque silhouettes above us, rifles in hand and ready to fire. But Cigarroa was wrong, and Llorca would have nothing to cover that night. Even typical fight night fisticuffs were conspicuously absent this evening. Bout after bout, there was no danger. By the time the main event came, the thought the time spent in the Sun Bowl being anything other than your typical fight night had all but disappeared completely, made only audible every now and then by boxing writer Barry’s teachings to his newly found neophyte friend, Llorca.

It was time for the fight.

The Fight

The fight itself lived up to its billing. It was entertaining and had an abrupt end. The two middleweights accounted well for themselves, each having his moment. Lee got off early, using a sharp, stiff jab and a long reach to build an early points lead. Chavez started coming on though in the fifth, and by the seventh round, his heavier punches were finally taking their toll.

The fight was stopped by referee Laurence Cole at 2:21 of round number seven. Lee was up against the ropes, visibly hurt and unable to defend himself, with Chavez pouring it on top of him like an avalanche.

My ringside report filed at deadline tells the story:

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KOs) notched his most impressive win to date Saturday night in front of 13,467 boxing fans in El Paso, defeating Irish challenger Andy Lee (28-2, 20 KOs) by TKO in round number seven.

Things did not start so well for Chavez.

The fight began with Lee soundly outboxing the tentative Chavez with forceful jabs and deft footwork. The second round was more of the same, as Chavez seemed befuddled by his opponent’s size and reach. In the third, Chavez started finding success digging in hard shots to the body, but he ate too many clean counters from Lee to take the round decisively.

The fourth round went to Chavez, though, as he was able to position Lee in the corner, at times almost at will, and let loose powerful hooks and uppercuts, even stunning the challenger for the first time in the contest when both men landed hard shots at the same time.

It was perhaps then, that Chavez realized the power advantage he possessed over Lee.

The now determined Chavez started taunting Lee in the fifth, which seemed to lead the challenger to not only do the same in return, but to also abandon his jab almost completely in order to trade shots with the slugging Mexican. Both men landed heavy shots as the action picked up.

“He’d just walk through them,” Lee would say afterwards.

The men took turns getting the better of each other in the sixth, with Chavez coming out on top of things by the end of it, landing both excellently timed and powerfully thunderous punches in the corner as the bell sounded.

Chavez would just keep coming in the seventh, where ultimately his harder, more effective blows turned out to be just too much for the brave Irish challenger.

With the win, Chavez retained his WBC middleweight title belt, setting up a showdown with linear champion Sergio Martinez.

After the fight, Lee praised the champion as a worthy opponent for Martinez.

“I couldn’t hold him off,” he said. “He was too big and too strong. He’d give Martinez a hell of a fight.”

Lee’s hall of fame trainer, Emanuel Steward, concurred. “Junior fought a smart fight. He’s very strong. He passed the test. “

After the fight, Chavez seemed confident in the execution of his plan in the fight, despite being down on all three judges scorecards’ at the time four rounds to two.

“I started by studying him,” he said. “I saw he had nothing. I dove in.”

The story of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is becoming increasingly interesting. The 26-year-old continues to make his mark in the same sport his famous father made his, despite being ever present in the shadow of the man largely considered the greatest Mexican champion of all-time.

“I’m very happy to carry this name, to keep doing more, and to write my story in boxing.”

The next part of the story will include Sergio Martinez. Bob Arum and Lou DiBella confirmed the contest for September 15th in Las Vegas after the fight.

Chavez Sr. seems as eager as his son for the fight. “Martinez has talked too much,” he told the press. “I hope when the times come for the fight he doesn’t’ run like a chicken in the ring.”

Junior was less openly disdainful of Martinez.

“Martinez moves a lot so I’ll have to move. That’s a fight I have to make.”

The fight was over, and it was time to travel home. Plans set beforehand were already in motion. If he ever wanted another shot at the middleweight title, Lee would have to get back in line. For Chavez, his time against Martinez had come. Bob Arum and Lou DiBella were now ready to cash in on the most lucrative fight possible for September’s fast approaching Mexican Independence Day weekend. Everyone was ready to move on.

The story should have been over, but it wasn’t. I did not know it at the time of our long drive home from the furthest point west in Texas, but questions were already starting to circulate within the boxing media. Calls needed to be made; documentation checked. If journalists had failed to ask the right questions in El Paso that night, questions about how PED tests were administered for both fighters, about what PEDs were tested for, about when the tests occurred, someone would now need to pick up the slack to find out what had happened in Texas.

What Andy Lee Didn’t Do

An eleven hour car ride back from El Paso provides lots of quiet time. I spent much of it reflecting on the fight, what Chavez was able to do and what Andy Lee didn’t. First things first, Andy fought a dumb fight.

Andy Lee is a thinking man, a boxer. He’s best when he uses his range, fires off a sturdy jab and keeps his opponent off balance by moving laterally. This does two very important things. First, it keeps his opponent from being able to plant his feet. The less his feet are planted, the less power he can generate, keeping Lee safer from harm. Second, this allows Andy to set up counter shots that have double the impact. As Lee’s opponent moves forward, Lee wants to use his ring generalship to set traps. As his opponent turns and turns to catch him, as he becomes increasingly flustered by Lee’s steady jab, he becomes more and more susceptible to rushing in like a fool. Once he does, Lee can use this ill timed aggression to pounce with naturally hard punches made even more forceful by his opponent’s forward momentum.

When Lee fights like this, he has his best chance to win. When he doesn’t, he risks losing. Such was the case in his first fight against rugged slugger Brian Vera. Vera wanted to make it a brawl and Lee obliged. The result was a TKO 7 upset win for Vera. In his second fight with Vera, though, Lee won virtually every round precisely because he forsook bravado and fought the way he should. The result was a wide UD win for Lee. It was a pure shutout, virtuoso boxer Andy Lee at his best, in such a thorough and sound boxing lesson that Vera had no qualms about serving as Lee’s chief sparring partner for the Chavez fight.

Conventional wisdom said Lee had learned his lesson, but apparently he hadn’t. Because what Andy Lee didn’t do against Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. was fight like he should have. He didn’t learn from his loss and subsequent win versus Brian Vera, didn’t use the time spent with Vera sparring to establish footwork he would use in the fight, didn’t listen to cornerman, the late Manny Steward, telling him not to stand there and trade with Chavez like a glutton.

No, in photos taken that night from ringside, Rachel captured far too many cases of Lee standing right in front of Chavez, far too many moments of the two men’s heads resting up against each other, far too many lineal advances by Chavez met head on by the valiantly foolish Andy Lee.

What Andy Lee didn’t do that night likely cost him the fight.

The Question

Unbeknownst to those of us on press row that evening, there were some serious issues regarding Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.’s prefight urinalysis.

“The format calls for the fighters to walk to the ring now, but there has been a delay in Julio Cesar Chavez’s dressing room,” Jim Lampley told the HBO television audience. “We’re told that in the other dressing room, Chavez tried and failed to provide a urine sample and the Texas State Athletic Commission has elected to take the sample after the fight.”

But according to Manny Steward and assistant Javon “Sugar” Hill, Chavez submitted his urinalysis before the fight, albeit under less than ideal circumstances.

“A guy runs over into our locker room and tells me to come back over because Chavez has to use the bathroom,” Hill told boxing writer Geoffrey Ciani. “He was taking his gloves off because he had to use the bathroom. So I go back over there, and there is a bathroom in the locker room. He’s in the bathroom and they’re taking his gloves off. That’s the only part I see. I didn’t look in the bathroom to see who was in there, but they took his gloves off when he was in there. There was a guy standing in front and holding a towel up across the doorway of the bathroom, because there was no door. I was standing there for maybe ten minutes at the most. They didn’t tell me he was taking a drug test. They said he had to use the bathroom. I was assuming that he had already taken the drug test because they put the gloves on him the first time.

“Then at that point I go back over there and I’m waiting for him to use the bathroom. Then finally a guy, I don’t know if he was a doctor or not, left. I asked the Commissioner what that was about, and he said, ‘That was Chavez, he just took his drug test’. I said, ‘Chavez just took his drug test now?’ ‘Yeah, yeah. He just took his test right now’.”

So which was it? That was the question (or so it seemed at the time). Did Chavez submit to a urinalysis drug test? Secondarily, did it occur before or after the fight?

Boxing journalists sprang to action, your TSS scribe included. I sent an email to Dickie Cole, Program Manager for Texas’ Combative Sports Program. In what I’ve since discovered is typical Cole fashion, he forwarded my inquiry to someone else for response.

“Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Andy Lee submitted urine samples at Saturday's fight,” Public Affairs Project Manager Randy Nesbitt emailed me on June 19, 2012.

“Thanks very much,” I replied. “Can you tell me what company does the testing and when the results are expected?”

No response.

Perhaps Mr. Nesbitt had bigger fish to fry. ESPN’s Dan Rafael (who did not travel to El Paso for the fight) reported later the same day that both Chavez and Lee provided pre-fight urine samples. Rafael’s sources included Billy Keane (Chavez’s manager), Carl Moretti (Vice President of Chavez’s promotional company, Top Rank), and Randy Nesbitt. So then, was HBO’s Jim Lampley just misinformed that evening when he told HBO viewers the urinalysis for Chavez would be done after the fight? Rafael says so. In a pro-Chavez blog entry, the ESPN writer says it was all just misunderstanding.

“Jim's comments at the time were accurate,” said HBO spokesman Kevin Flaherty. “We were unaware that shortly thereafter a sample was provided. That was unfortunate.”

Indeed, “Sugar” Hill’s recollection of the events that night seems to corroborate the story told to Rafael. And, while the circumstances explained by Hill would be less than ideal for any serious urinalysis test (typically, there would only be the fighter and a nonpartisan representative in the room in charge of observing and collecting the specimen), it’s quite within the realm of possibility that the urinalysis test was taken as described.

But were we, as boxing journalists, asking the right question?

The Question about the Question

Let’s assume both fighters took the WBC mandated and Texas prescribed pre-fight urinalysis drug tests just as Rafael reported, and let’s also assume there were no shenanigans done that night to keep either fighter from submitting a valid and true sample. While there seems to be lingering questions about this point, particularly with Chavez, let’s momentarily give everyone the benefit of the doubt and say before the fight, both Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Andy Lee submitted pre-fight urinalysis tests in their dressing rooms. Whoever told HBO’s Jim Lampley there was trouble with Chavez submitting his test, and that it would be done after the fight, was simply mistaken. And the events described in the dressing room by “Sugar” Hill were just happenstance. Both fighters took the test. It was administered and collected properly. The tests were sent to the testing agency and the results came back clean.

Is there still a question that hasn’t been asked or answered? Isn’t it readily apparent (in hindsight at least) that we never asked what the urinalysis test we assumed was given was screening for? Perhaps we should have.

As we learned just this February in this TSS exclusive, the state of Texas does not regularly test professional boxers for the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), including anabolic steroids, HGH, etc. Instead, the standard nine-panel screen is geared to illicit recreational substances. Moreover, despite numerous inquiries made by TSS, the state will not say definitively whether they’ve ever tested any fighter for PEDs. In fact, the state is even reluctant to advise its main event participants.

Ask Andy Lee. After his loss to Chavez last June, one of his representatives, Damian McCann, personally called Dickie Cole to ask the very questions we in the media should have been asking in the first place.

“He told me his great grandfather or somebody was Irish and we were friends and if there was any wrong-doing he would be the first to put his hands up and fix it in the future,” said McCann. “I got no information at all about events of the previous Saturday evening; he did not know anything about the drug testing.”

McCann says he restated his questions to Cole again via email, hoping Texas’ head boxing man would provide the information. McCann’s email dated 6/18/2012:

Hi Dick,

Good to talk to you earlier. Further to our conversation, I can confirm that Andy Lee provided a urine sample for the Texas State Athletic Commission last Saturday evening (June 16, 2012) before his bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

I would now like to officially request confirmation and clarity from the Texas State Athletic Commission on the following:

Did Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. provide a urine sample as per professional boxing’s anti-doping drug testing regulations on Saturday evening (June 16, 2012) for the Texas State Athletic Commission?

If so, was Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s urine sample test carried out before or after the bout on Saturday evening (June 16, 2012)?

If so, what was the result of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s urine sample test of June 16, 2012?

If so, what are the names of the individuals who performed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s urine sample test of June 16, 2012?

Many thanks,

Damian McCann

Cole responded to McCann by forwarding the questions over to – you guessed it – Randy Nesbitt.

Nesbitt again confirmed both Chavez and Lee submitted a pre-fight urinalysis test before their bout, and that the tests would take 7-14 days to be returned. He did not advise McCann on any of his more specific questions regarding the drug tests. McCann remained undeterred. On 6/20/12, he submitted the following:

Mr. Nesbitt,

Further to my request yesterday for a copy of the Texas State Athletic Commission’s Ant-Doping Testing Procedures, Rules and Regulations.

In relation the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s urine sample, can you please advise what specific test(s) are being conducted and what specific drug(s) are being test for?

What are the name (s) of the individual (s) and organisation or laboratory who performed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s urine sample test?

Also can you please advise the name(s) of the official(s) and witness(s) that were present for the test.

Many Thanks,

Damian McCann

Almost three weeks later, McCann finally received a response to his request, though this time from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s Public Information Officer, Susan Stanford and Attorney General Greg Abbot, dated 7/10/12:

Good afternoon, Mr. McCann.

My name is Susan Stanford and I am the public information officer for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

I apologize for the delay in responding to your request but I was out of the office from May 26 until July 2.

I have attached a copy of a Texas Attorney General's opinion regarding the release of information regarding drugs test results in relation to combative sports events. As you can see, the state's AG determined that drug test results constitute confidential medical records and are not public information.

Susan Stanford

Needless to say, TSS’s own subsequent efforts to confirm even the number of fighters tested for PEDs in the state of Texas has been unsuccessful. In fact, it appears the state does not even keep records of the information on hand.

“We do not keep those records,” confirmed Stanford to TSS via phone, when questioned about the unavailability of the records through the Public Information Act.

Aftermath

According to reports, 1.6 million fight fans watched Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. batter Andy Lee into the ropes on HBO’s World Championship Boxing. The event drew 13,476 people to the Sun Bowl that night and was televised worldwide, producing $1.84 million in ticket sales and distribution revenues for Top Rank, Inc.

Despite its success, questions remain around the drug tests performed that evening. Were any drug tests administered to the participants? Were they done before or after the fight? Were the drugs tests administered in such a way as to ensure both fighters gave accurate and true samples? Perhaps most importantly, in a WBC title bout, a fight between two world-class middleweights, where one of the fighters had previously failed a PED test in Nevada, did the drug test administered include screens for any PEDs, at minimum the diuretic Chavez tested positive for in 2009?

The late Manny Steward remained unconvinced about the situation. His night in El Paso turned out to be his last fight in the corner of longtime friend and roommate, Andy Lee. Steward voiced his concerns to Boxing Scene’s Chris Harmony just three months before succumbing to the illness that ultimately took his life that fall.

“I am very, very surprised and I am very concerned. In my experience I just recently had with Andy Lee; to my knowledge Julio Cesar Chavez [Jr.] never really took any drug test. They me tell me he was going to take a test after the fight and at the last minute they had my nephew come in, ‘Oh, he’s going to take it now’ and here, he comes in the room with two other guys and they said he took the test so he doesn’t have to take nothing now.

“As Andy said, ‘I’ve boxed with Wladimir Klitschko many times; for this fight I boxed with guys 180 pounds. His strength was going like he was almost a 500-pound man’. Based on that and some of the other things I am beginning to see, I realize that there may be something going on that I don’t know of.

“I’m looking at this, and he’s having leg cramps and Manny Pacquiao having leg cramps; there’s too many strange things going on. I really do believe now that’s become a very serious issue in our sport that has to be seriously dealt with, because having advantages of hometowns and small rings, even partial officials, that’s one thing. But to have where a person’s human strength and endurance is doubling and tripling that of an opponent, that could be one of the most difficult and problematic problems in our sport in the next year or so.”

McCann shared similar sentiments to me this week, as we discussed continued efforts to find out what happened in Texas last June. At very minimum, we reason together, the fighters who participated in the main event that night deserve to know what kind of drug tests were ordered, right?

“Emanuel Steward and his assistant, ‘Sugar’ Hill, knew that Andy had to provide a urine sample to officials at the venue prior to the fight,” said McCann. “They or Andy were not aware what drugs would be tested for as there is no uniformed and generic code of practice for drug testing in boxing in the US…but like everyone else we assumed, as a matter of course and to hold in good standing the credibility of the testing practice of [the state], that PEDs would be tested for. Without testing for PEDs, the testing regulations are not fit for purpose and totally inadequate.”

This weekend in San Antonio there will another big time boxing event in Texas. The unification bout between WBC junior middleweight titlist Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and WBA champ Austin Trout will be televised to millions of people all over the world. The venue has already sold over 30k tickets. The promoters of the bout, Golden Boy Promotions, and their television partner Showtime, are sure to bring in millions of dollars in ticket sales and distribution revenues.

What ends up happening in Texas will be more than just a fight. What happens in Texas could change the way we all think about the sport of boxing and the journalists who cover it. Maybe things get better this time. Maybe there will be transparency in the drug testing process, maybe the drug tests will be administered under proper protocol and include a screen for PEDs. Maybe the fighters and the promoters will leave no doubt about what happens in the ring that night and everyone goes home happy. Or maybe things remain the same, or maybe they get worse. Maybe facts about what happens in Texas on fight night keep getting muddled or withheld, maybe PED tests never become the norm, or even enforced, until someone dies in the ring because no one in the state will stand up for the participants.

Follow McCarson on Twitter @KelseyMcCarson.

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Philly’s Jesse Hart Continues His Quest plus Thoughts on Tyson-Paul and ‘Boots’ Ennis

Published

14 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Luis A. Cortes III

Philly's-Jesse-Jart-Continues-His-Quest-plus-Thoughts-on-Yuson-Paul-and-Boots-Ennis

Jesse Hart (31-3, 25 KOs) returns to the ring tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 22) on a Teflon Promotions card at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University. During a recent media workout for the show, which will feature five other local fighters in separate bouts, Hart was adamant that fighting for the second time this year at home will only help in his continuing quest to push towards a second chance at a world championship. “Fighting at home is always great and it just makes sense from a business standpoint since I already have a name in the sport and in the city,” said Hart (pictured with his friend and training partner Joey Dawejko).

Hart’s view of where his career currently resides in relation to the landscape in the light heavyweight division leads you to believe that, at the age of 35, Hart is realistic about how far he can go before his career is over.

“Make good fights, win those fights, fight as much as I can and stay busy, that’s the way the light heavyweight division won’t be able to ignore me,” he says. Aside from two losses back in 2017 and 2018 to current unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez at super middleweight, Hart’s only other defeat was to Joe Smith during Smith’s most successful portion of his career.

When attempts to make fights with (at the time) up-and-coming prospects like Edgar Berlanga and David Benavidez were denied with Hart being viewed as the typical high risk-low reward opponent, it was time to find another way. So, Hart decided to stay local after splitting with Top Rank Promotions post-surgery to repair his longtime right-hand issues and hooked up with Teflon Promotions, an upstart company that is the latest to take on the noble endeavor of trying to return North Broad Street and Atlantic City to boxing prominence.

In essence, it is a calculated move that is potentially a win-win situation for all parties. Continued success for Hart along with some of the titles at light heavyweight eventually being released from Artur Beterbiev’s grasp due to outside politics, and Jesse Hart just may lift up Teflon Promotions into a major player on the regional scene.

Tickets for Friday’s show are available on Ticketmaster platforms.

As we entered November, a glance at the boxing schedule made me wonder if it was possible for the sport to have a memorable month — one that could shine a light forward in boxing’s ongoing quest to regain relevance in today’s sports landscape. Having consecutive weekends with events that could spark interest in the pugilistic artform and its wonderful characters was what I was hoping for, but what we got instead was more evidence that boxing isn’t immune to modern business practices landing a one-two punch on the action both inside and outside of the ring.

Jaron “Boots” Ennis was expected to make a statement in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzian on Nov. 9, a statement to put the elite level champions around his weight class on notice. What we witnessed, however, was more evidence of how current champions in their prime can be hampered by having to navigate a business that functions through the cooperation of independent contractors. Ennis got the job done – he won – but it was a lackluster performance.

It’s time for Ennis to fight the fighters we already thought we would have seen him fight by now and I do believe there is some truth to Ennis rising to the occasion if there was a more noteworthy name across the ring.

—

Some positives emerged from the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul event the following week. Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, and women’s boxing are finally getting the public recognition they deserve. Mario Barrios’s draw against the tough Abel Ramos, also on the Netflix broadcast, was an action-packed firefight. So, mainstream America and beyond got to witness actual fights before being subjected to Paul’s latest circus.

Unfortunately for fans, but fortunately for Paul, the lone true boxing star in the main event dimmed out from an athletic standpoint decades ago. In this instance modern business practices allowed for a social media influencer to stage his largest money grab from a completely unnuanced public.

As Paul rose to the ring apron from the steps and looked around “Jerry’s World,” taking in the moment, it reminded me of an actual fighter when they’re about to enter the ring taking in the atmosphere before they risk their lives after a lifetime of dedication to try and realize a childhood dream. In this case though, this was a natural-born hustler realizing as he made it to the ring apron that his hustle was likely having its moment of glory.

In boxing circles, Jake Paul is viewed as a “necessary evil.” What occurs in his fights are merely an afterthought to the spectacle that is at the core of the social media realm that birthed him. Hopefully the public learned from the atrocity that occurred once the exhibition started that smoke and mirrors last for only so long. Hopefully Paul’s moment of being a boxing performer and acting like a true fighter comes to its conclusion. But he isn’t going away anytime soon, especially since his promotional company is now in bed with Netflix.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: Oscar Collazo, Reimagining ‘The Ring’ Magazine and More

Published

3 days ago

November 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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With little boxing activity over the next two weekends, there’s no reason to hold off anointing Oscar Collazo the Fighter of the Month for November. In his eleventh pro fight, Collazo turned heads with a masterful performance against previously undefeated Thammanoon Niyamtrong, grabbing a second piece of the title in boxing’s smallest weight class while ending the reign of the sport’s longest-reigning world title-holder. The match was on the undercard of the Nov. 16 “Latino Night” show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia headlined by the cruiserweight tiff between Mexico’s Zurdo Ramirez and England’s Chris Billam-Smith.

Collazo was a solid favorite, but no one expected the fight would be as one-sided. Collazo put on a clinic, as the saying goes. He took the starch out of Niyamtrong with wicked body punches before ending matters in the seventh. A left uppercut sent the Thai to the canvas for the third time and the referee immediately stepped in and stopped it.

Collazo, wrote Tris Dixon, “dissected and destroyed a very good fighter.” Indeed. A former Muay Thai champion, Niyamtrong (aka Knockout CP Freshmart) brought a 25-0 record and was making the thirteenth defense of his WBA strap.

A Puerto Rican born in Newark, Jersey, Oscar Collazo turned pro after winning a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American games in Lima, Peru. He was reportedly named after Oscar De La Hoya (we will take that info with a grain of salt), names Hall of Famer Ivan Calderon as a mentor and is co-promoted by Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto.

Collazo, 27, won the WBO version of the 105-pound title in his seventh pro fight with a seven-round beatdown of Melvin Jerusalem. He won a world title faster than any Puerto Rican boxer before him.

His goal now, he says, is to become a unified champion. He would be the first from the island in the modern era. Although Puerto Rico has a distinguished boxing history – twelve Boricua boxers are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame — there hasn’t been a fully unified champion from Puerto Rico since the WBO came along in 1988.

The other belt-holders at 105 are the aforementioned Jerusalem (WBC) and his Filipino countryman Melvin Taduran (IBF). Both won their belts in Japan with upsets of the Shigeoka brothers, respectively Yudai (Jerusalem) and Ginjiro (Taduran). Collazo would be a massive favorite over either.

A far more attractive fight would pit Collazo against two-time Olympic gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov. In theory, this would be an easy fight to make as the undefeated Uzbek trains in Indio, California, a frequent stomping ground of Collazo’s co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya who had a piece of the action when Dusmatov made his pro debut in Mexico. However, it’s doubtful that Dusmatov’s influential advisor Vadim Kornilov would let him take such a treacherous fight until the match-up had been properly “marinated,” by which time they both may be competing in a higher weight class. The Puerto Rican, who began his pro career at 110, is big for the 105-pound division notes the noted boxing historian Matt McGrain who is partial to the little guys.

—

Outside the ropes, the big news in boxing in November was the news that The Ring magazine had been sold to Turki Alalshikh. The self-acclaimed Bible of Boxing, which celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2022, was previously owned by a subsidiary of Oscar De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Enterprises, which acquired the venerable publication in 2007. Alalshikh purportedly paid $10 million dollars.

Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, confirmed the sale on social media on Monday, Nov. 11.

“Earlier this week, I finalized a deal to acquire 100% of The Ring Magazine, and I want to make a few things clear,” he said. “The print version of the magazine will return immediately after a two year hiatus and it will be available in the US and UK markets. The magazine will be fully independent, with brilliant writers and focusing on every aspect in the sport of boxing. We will continue to raise the prestige of The Ring Titles, and plans are already underway to have a yearly extravagant awards ceremony to celebrate the very best in the boxing industry.”

Alalshikh, blessed with an apparently unlimited budget, is already the most powerful man in the sport and more than a few concerns have been raised about his latest venture, especially in light of an incident involving prominent British scribe Oliver Brown.

Brown, the chief sports writer for the Telegraph who had previously covered three of Tyson Fury’s fights in Saudi Arabia, had his credential pulled for the Joshua-Dubois show at Wembley Stadium after calling the event “a grisly conduit for glorifying the Saudi regime.”

“I frankly do not trust Alalshikh to keep his personal aims from influencing the publication’s content,” says boxing writer Patrick Stumberg. One thing is certain: So long as the publication remains in the hands of the Saudis, the word “sportswashing” will never appear in the pages of The Ring magazine.

The Ring is the second major online boxing magazine to change hands this year. In February, Boxing Scene, one of the most heavily-trafficked sites in the ecosystem, was sold to Canadian-American entrepreneur Garry Jonas, best known as the founder of ProBox, a promotional entity headquartered in Plant City, Florida.

—

Mike Tyson’s showing against Jake Paul was mindful of something that Jimmy Cannon once wrote: “…the flesh was corrupted by time. The mind operated as if it was in another man’s head…the talent has been contaminated by age.”

Cannon was describing Joe Louis in Louis’s farewell fight against Rocky Marciano.

True, Jake Paul is no Rocky Marciano. To include their names in the same sentence borders on sacrilege. But the fabled Brown Bomber was 37 years old when he was rucked into retirement by Marciano on that October night at Madison Square Garden. At age 58, Mike Tyson was old enough to be Joe Louis’s father and yet human lemmings by the thousands couldn’t resist betting on him.

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The Hauser Report: Some Thoughts on Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul

Published

5 days ago

November 17, 2024

Thomas Hauser

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Jake Paul boxed his way to a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night. The bout, streamed live on Netflix, was one of the most-watched fights of all time and, in terms of the level of competition, boxing’s least-consequential mega-fight ever.

We’re living in a golden age for spectator sports. Sports generate massive amounts of money from engaged fan bases and are more popular now than ever before. Today’s athletes are more physically gifted, better conditioned, and more skilled than their predecessors. Their prowess is appreciated and understood by tens of millions of fans.

Not so for boxing. For the sweet science, this is an era of “fools’ gold.” Yes, fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue bring honor to the sport. But boxing’s fan base has dwindled to the point where most people have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. The sport’s dominant promoter has a business model that runs hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the red. And most fights of note are contested behind a paywall that shrinks the fan base even more. Few sports fans understand what good boxing is.

Mike Tyson is 58 years old. Once upon a time, he was the most destructive boxer in the world and “the baddest man on the planet.” Prior to last Friday night, he hadn’t fought in nineteen years and hadn’t won a fight since 2003.

Jake Paul is a 27-year-old social media personality who wasn’t born when Tyson lost his aura of invincibility at the hands of Buster Douglas. Paul began boxing professionally three years ago and, before fighting Tyson, had compiled a 10-1 (7 KOs) record against carefully chosen opponents.

Netflix has roughly 283 million subscribers globally, 84 million of them in North America. Recently, it made the decision to move into live sports. On December 25, it will stream the National Football League’s two Christmas games on an exclusive basis.

Netflix took note of the fact that Tyson’s 2020 exhibition against Roy Jones drew 1.6 million pay-per-view buys and concluded that Tyson-Paul had the potential to be the most-viewed fight of all time. It purchased rights to the fight as an attention grabber and subscription seller for (a best-estimate) $40 million.

Tyson-Paul was originally scheduled for July 20. A compliant Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations sanctioned the bout as an official fight, not an exhibition. In deference to Tyson’s age, the fighters agreed that the match would be contested over eight two-minute rounds (women’s rules) with 14-ounce gloves (heavyweight gloves normally weigh ten ounces).

But on May 26, Tyson became nauseous and dizzy while on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles and needed medical assistance for what was later described as a bleeding ulcer. The fight was rescheduled for November 15. Later, Tyson described the incident on the plane as follows: “I was in the bathroom throwing up blood. I had, like, eight blood transfusions. The doctor said I lost half my blood. I almost died. I lost 25 pounds in eleven days. Couldn’t eat. Only liquids. Every time I went to the bathroom, it smelled like tar. Didn’t even smell like shit anymore. It was disgusting.”

Does that sound like a 58-year-old man who should be fighting?

As Eliot Worsell noted, Tyson-Paul contained all the elements of a successful reality show. “There are for a start,” he wrote, “celebrities involved, two of them. One is ‘old famous’ and the other ‘new famous’ and both bring large audiences with them. They need only tap something on their phone to guarantee the entire world pays attention. And that, in this day and age, is all you really need to green light a project like this.”

But Worsell added a word of caution, observing, “This has been the story of Jake Paul’s pro boxing career to date; one of smoke and mirrors, one of sycophants telling him only what he wants to hear. He has been fed a lie just as Mike Tyson is now being fed a lie, and on November 15 they will both play dress-up and be watched by millions. They will wear gloves like boxers and they will move like boxers – one hampered in this quest by old age and the other by sheer incompetence – and they will together make ungodly sums of money.”

There was early talk that 90,000 fans would jam AT&T Stadium on fight night. Initially, ticket prices ranged from $381 to $7,956. And those prices were dwarfed by four tiers of VIP packages topped by a two-million-dollar “MVP Owner’s Experience” that included special ringside seating at the fight for six people, luxury hotel accommodations, weigh-in and locker room photo ops, boxing gloves signed by Tyson and Paul, and other amenities.

But by Monday of fight week, ticket prices had dropped to as little as $36. Ringside seats were available for $900. And the press release announcing the eventual MVP Owner’s Experience sale backtracked a bit, saying the package was “valued at $2 million” – not that the actual sale price was $2 million. It also appeared that the purchase price included advertising for the law firm that purchased the package since the release proclaimed, “Just as every fighter in the ring stands to represent resilience, grit, and the pursuit of victory, TorkLaw stands in the corner of the people, fighting for justice and empowering those who need it most.”

That said, the fight drew 72,300 fans (inclusive of giveaway tickets) to AT&T Stadium. And the live gate surpassed $18 million making it the largest onsite gate ever in the United States for a fight card outside of Las Vegas. More than 60 million households watched the event live around the world.

The undercard featured a spirited fight between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos that ended in a draw. Then came the second dramatic showdown between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

Taylor-Serrano II was for all four major sanctioning body 140-pound belts. Two years ago, Katie and Amanda did battle at Madison Square Garden on a historic night that saw Taylor emerge with a controversial split-decision win. Katie is now 38 years old and her age is showing. Amanda is 36. Taylor was an early 6-to-5 betting favorite in the rematch but the odds flipped late in Serrano’s favor.

Amanda began Taylor-Serrano II in dominating fashion and wobbled Katie just before the bell ending round one. That set the pattern for the early rounds. Serrano looked like she could hurt Taylor, and Taylor didn’t look like she could hurt Serrano.

Then in round four, Serrano got hurt. A headbutt opened a gruesome gash on her right eyelid. As the bout progressed, the cut became more dangerous. From an armchair perspective, it looked as though the fight should have been stopped and the result determined by the judges’ abbreviated scorecards. But the ring doctor who examined Serrano allowed it to continue even though the flow of blood seemed to handicap Amanda more and more with each passing round.

In round eight, referee Jon Schorle took a point away from Taylor after the fourth clash of heads that he thought Katie had initiated. By then, Serrano’s face resembled a gory Halloween mask and the bout had turned into a non-stop firefight. Each woman pushed herself as far as it seemed possible to go.

In the eyes of most observers, Serrano clearly won the fight. This writer scored the bout 96-93 in Amanda’s favor. Then the judges had their say. Each one favored Taylor by a 95-94 margin.

“My God!” blow-by-blow commentator Mauro Ranallo exclaimed after the verdict was announced. “How does one rob Amanda Serrano after a performance like that?”

In keeping with the hyperbole of the promotion, one might say that it was the most-watched ring robbery (although not the worst) in boxing history.

CompuBox is an inexact tabulation. But there’s a point at which the numbers can’t be ignored. According to CompuBox, Serrano outlanded Taylor in nine of ten rounds with an overall 324-to-217 advantage in punches landed.

From a boxing standpoint, Taylor-Serrano II made the evening special. Casual fans who don’t know much about the sweet science saw a very good fight. But they also saw how bad judging undermines boxing.

Meanwhile, as good as Taylor-Serrano II was, that’s not what Netflix was selling to the public. Jake Paul’s most recent events had engendered disappointing viewer numbers. This one was a cultural touchstone because of Tyson.

Paul has worked hard to become a boxer. In terms of skills, he’s now a club fighter (which is more than 99.9 percent of the population could realistically dream of being). So, what happens when a club fighter fights a 58-year-old man who used to be great?

Jack Johnson fought until the age of 53, losing four of his last six bouts. And the two he won were against opponents named Rough House Wilson (who was disqualified in what would be his only recorded professional fight) and Brad Simmons (who was barred from fighting again in Kansas because he was believed to have thrown the fight against Johnson).

Larry Holmes fought until age 52, knocking out 49-year-old Mike Weaver at age 51 and winning a unanimous decision over Eric Esch (aka Butterbean) in his final bout.

Paul was a 2-to-1 betting favorite. Serious PED testing for the fight was a murky issue but seems to have been minimal. Taylor and Serrano underwent VADA testing in advance of their bout. Tyson and Paul didn’t.

Tyson weighed in for the contest at 228.4 pounds; Paul at 227.2 (well over his previous high of 200). Following the weigh-in, Mike and Jake came face to face for the ritual staredown and Mike slapped Jake. But the incident was self-contained with no ripple effect and had the feel of a WWE confrontation.

That raised a question that was fogging the promotion: “Would Tyson vs. Paul be a ‘real’ fight or a pre-arranged sparring session (which was what Tyson vs. Roy Jones appeared to be)?”

That question was of particular note because sports betting is legal in 38 states and 31 of them were allowing wagers on the fight.

Nakisa Bidarian (co-founder of Paul’s promotional company) sought to lay that issue to rest, telling ESPN, “There’s no reason for us to create a federal fraud, a federal crime. These are pro fights that consumers are making legal bets on. We have never and we’ll never do anything that’s other than above board and one hundred percent a pro fight unless we come out clearly and say, ‘Hey, this is an exhibition fight that is a show.'”

Tyson looked old and worried during his ring walk and wore a sleeve on his right knee. The crowd was overwhelmingly in his favor. But it’s an often-repeated truism that the crowd can’t fight. And neither could Mike.

Once upon a time, Tyson scored nine first-minute knockouts in professional fights. Not first-round. First-minute.

Against Paul, “Iron Mike” came out for round one as hard as he could (which wasn’t very hard) while Jake kept a safe distance between them. Then Tyson tired and took all the air out of the fight. By round three, he was in survival mode with his head tucked safely behind his 14-ounce gloves. And Jake didn’t have the skills to hurt him.

The CompuBox numbers favored Paul by a 78-to-18 margin in punches landed. In other words, Tyson landed an average of two punches per round. The judges’ scores were 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 in Jake’s favor. It was a “real” fight but a bad one.

“I love Mike Tyson,” Terence Crawford posted on X afterward. “But they giving him too much credit. He looked like trash.”

Prior to the bout, Tris Dixon wrote, “Tyson-Paul is a weird event, and I can’t think of anything even remotely like it in terms of the level of fighters, celebrity, and their ages. The event is unique, and morally and ethically it is questionable. It is a cynical cash grab. I can’t see it being particularly entertaining as a high-level sporting event. But I’m sure once it starts you won’t be able to take your eyes off it.”

All true. But let’s remember that there was a time when Mike Tyson was universally recognized as the best fighter in the world. Not many people in history have been able to say that.

—

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir available at www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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