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The Fighter Who Makes Bernard Hopkins Look Like A Kid

Holding a press conference to announce an upcoming boxing match doesn’t mean, of course, that the fight will be held. One of the participants could be injured in training, forcing a cancellation, or he might object to the financial arrangements if there isn’t enough money to cover the promised purse.
There also could be a problem getting said bout officially sanctioned, which frequently is the case if the commission that determines such matters rules that a fighter is medically unfit to enter the ring, or if the promoter of the event somehow doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Given those potential factors, it is hardly a given that former featherweight Augie Pantellas, who will turn 70 on Feb. 16, actually will swap punches with a much younger opponent on June 7, 2014, the date he is tentatively scheduled to have his name entered in the Guinness World Book of Records as the oldest fighter ever to appear in sanctioned, non-exhibition bout. But Pantellas believes it will happen, and so does publicity-craving promoter Damon Feldman.
British cruiserweight Steve Ward is listed by Guinness as being the oldest professional boxer, having defeated Pete McJob in 2011, at 54, thus ending a 23-year retirement. But that designation is incorrect (the fight is not even listed by BoxRec); former WBC super lightweight champion Saoul Mamby was 60 when he lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Anthony Osbourne on March 8, 2008, in Georgetown, Cayman Islands. Regardless of whether Ward or Mamby has the more legitimate claim to the Guinness entry, however, Pantellas would easily shatter the record — if his proposed fight actually takes place.
“It’s a story because of my age,” said Pantellas, who compiled a 28-6 record, with 20 victories inside the distance, as a locally popular featherweight from 1967 to ’79, 32 of his 34 pro bouts being held in Philadelphia or one of its suburbs, Upper Darby, Pa. “But when people see me, they can tell I still have a youthful body. I’ve been blessed by God.
“I took my physical and my doctor said that everything’s good. I can still punch hard. I always could punch hard. Back when I was fighting, the punches came out a little quicker and sharper, but if I’m in shape, my punch will still be devastating. I still have that power.”
Feldman, a former super middleweight who compiled a 9-0 record with four knockouts before an injury ended his career in 1992, has stated that his first preference is to have Pantellas set the record in the Philadelphia area, where he still is a recognizable name (he was inducted in the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007). But if Feldman can’t get the go-ahead from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, whose executive director, Greg Sirb, has something of a contentious history with him, he said he could take the fight to Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
“We’ll try to do it here (in Pennsylvania),” Feldman said. “We’ll give it the first shot. I’m not saying it can’t be done here. But wherever it’s held, there’s legitimacy. Augie is not some 70-year-old guy coming out of nowhere. He fought Sammy Goss and Bobby Chacon. The first time he fought Goss, at the Spectrum, he drew over 10,000.”
Sirb, who twice fought on “Celebrity Boxing” cards promoted by Feldman, might prove a tough sell when it comes to granting needed approval for the staging a Pantellas record-setter in Pennsylvania. Feldman became something of an outcast with the Pennsylvania commission some years ago when he got into a physical altercation with another promoter, P.J. Augustine, and wound up punching him out.
“I was a wild, young guy,” said Feldman, now 44. “I made mistakes. I admit it. But I don’t think I have a problem with Greg. In my book he’s the best commissioner there is.”
For his part, Sirb is reserving judgment on any application to issue a license to Pantellas, no matter how much Feldman appears to be buttering him up.
“Nothing has come across my desk about it,” he said. “It would all depend on what (Feldman) is trying to do. There will be no comment on my part about (a possible application) until I see it. But I will say this: Play by the rules, there’ll be no problem. Don’t play by the rules, you’ll have a problem. That applies to everybody.”
Neither Feldman nor Pantellas, who since 1979 has operated a lunch stand outside the Delaware County (Pa.) Courthouse in Media, is a stranger to controversy. Feldman’s “Celebrity Boxing” cards have included appearances by, among others, disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, former baseball slugger and PEDs whistle-blower Jose Canseco, onetime Partridge Family kid Danny Bonaduce, L.A. police beating victim Rodney “Can’t We All Just Get Along?” King and Michael Lohan, fathered troubled actress Lindsay Lohan and apparently passed down some of his more outrageous genes to her.
Pantellas twice appeared in Feldman-promoted “Celebrity Boxing” exhibitions, and in 2007, upon his induction into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame, he said he hoped to take on Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila Ali, in the sort of “Battle of the Sexes” that rocked the tennis world when 29-year-old Billie Jean King thumped 55-year-old Bobby Riggs on Sept. 20, 1973, in Houston’s Astrodome.
When Feldman told longtime Philly promoter J Russell Peltz of his plan to stage a Laila Ali-Pantellas bout, Peltz told him he didn’t think Sirb would ever agree to sanction it. “Well,” Feldman said, “do you think New Jersey might?”
In a Philadelphia Magazine profile a couple of years ago, writer Don Steinberg labeled Feldman “King of the D-List,” detailing at length Feldman’s many forays into the sublime and ridiculous, which have gained him frequent notices in local newspapers’ gossip columns and guest appearances on sports-talk radio station WIP.
“Damon has always been more about promoting himself than his events,” Peltz, a no-nonsense inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, told Steinberg. “He’s more about the sizzle than the steak.”
But the idea of a Pantellas fight at 70, as Feldman noted, isn’t completely crazy. “The Broomall Bomber,” as Pantellas was known, looks 20 years younger than his actual age and he’s married to a woman 24 years his junior, which in and of itself would make him a hero to a lot of his fellow senior citizens. Pantellas again is training with Marty Feldman, Damon’s 80-year-old father, who posted a 20-3 record with 17 KOs during his own boxing career and who took a journeyman light heavyweight, “Prince” Charles Williams, all the way to the IBF title in 1987, a belt he successfully defended seven times.
Older athletes making cameo appearances strictly for PR purposes isn’t a particularly new concept, either. Minnie Minoso, now 87, was a .298 career hitter and winner of nine Gold Gloves as a major league outfielder for five teams from 1949 to ’63. Minoso played three games for the Chicago White Sox in 1976, at 50, and two more games for the White Sox in 1983. In 1993, at 67, he appeared with the independent St. Paul Saints of the Northern League and again in 2003, thus becoming the only professional baseball player to be listed in box scores in seven different decades.
To Pantellas’ way of thinking, what he is attempting to do is far less noteworthy than the idea of Bernard Hopkins, who turns 49 on Jan. 15, being the IBF light heavyweight titlist at an age when most fighters are long since retired.
“You think what I’m doing is unbelievable? Bernard Hopkins is unbelievable,” Pantellas said. “To be his age and still be a champion is something I can’t even imagine. Bernard Hopkins is the man.”
Well, B-Hop is not so bad for a relative kid of 48. Now, if he still holds is going strong in 2025 …
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Boxing Odds and Ends: A Farewell to Bob Sheridan, Canelo-Charlo Notes and More

Boxing broadcaster Bob Sheridan passed away at his home in Henderson, Nevada on Wednesday, Sept. 27. Sheridan was 79 years old.
As noted by Ron Borges in a 1999 story for the Boston Globe, “Colonel Bob” (an honorary title) called “more fights in more places watched by more people than anyone else in history.” All told, he was the blow-by-blow announcer for more than 10,000 fights, a number that included more than a hundred heavyweight title fights. The irony is that he was more well-known in places like Australia than in the United States. This was because when boxing switched from closed-circuit to pay-per-view, Sheridan didn’t make the transition, except for those tuning in overseas. During his long association with Don King, he was the anchor of the international feed.
Born in Boston to Irish immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as toddlers, Sheridan grew up in nearby Lexington, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Miami on a baseball scholarship and cut his teeth as a boxing broadcaster covering Chris Dundee’s Miami Beach club fights on WGBS radio.
Sheridan’s first heavyweight title fight was the 1968 match in Oakland between Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis for the vacant WBA belt (Ellis won a narrow 15-round decision). He would subsequently sit ringside for some of the sport’s most legendary fights, including the “Rumble in the Jungle” (Ali-Foreman), the “Thrilla in Manila,” (Ali-Frazier III), and Tyson-Holyfield II, the infamous “bite fight.”
During his early days on closed-circuit telecasts, Sheridan was often forced to take on a celebrity as his color commentator. For Ali’s fight with Chuck Wepner, it was Pearl Bailey. For the “Rumble in the Jungle,” it was British TV talk show personality David Frost. (Sheridan recalled that Frost was very professional, assuaging his qualms that he would be a train wreck.)
In an article for The Ring written seven years ago, New Jersey good guy Henry Hascup noted that it was a miracle that Sheridan was still alive considering his myriad health issues which included seven heart attacks and a quadruple bypass. He famously announced one fight with his cardiologist sitting next to him with a defibrillator just in case.
Colonel Bob was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016, the second announcer accorded this honor following the legendary Don Dunphy. May he rest in peace.
***Will Canelo-Charlo be a sellout?
The word on the street here in Las Vegas is that tickets to Saturday’s card at T-Mobile Arena headlined by the match between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo are moving very slow. Without a strong walk-up sale or serious discounts, goes the scuttlebutt, the event has scant chance of being a sellout.
A common explanation for the sluggishness (assuming it is true) is the date on the calendar. The event arrives too soon after Mexican Independence Day Weekend. For many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, the mid-September holiday is an occasion to spend money, perhaps a mini-vacation to Las Vegas or flying out of town to visit friends and family. Money that otherwise would have been spent to see Canelo Alvarez in action had already been spent, or so it is theorized.
At Stub Hub, last we checked, prices for a single ticket ranged from $282 to $31,850.
The four-fight SHOWTIME pay-per-view, which includes a delicious match between super welterweights Jesus Ramos and Erickson Lubin, carries a list price of $84.99. It airs at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
***A new phenom?
We sat mesmerized at the Mayweather Boxing Club a few days ago watching a boxing trainer work the pads with Curmel Moton who makes his pro debut in a 6-round featherweight fight on the Canelo-Charlo undercard. One did not need a trained eye to see that Moton is very advanced for his age.
Moton, a protégé of Floyd Mayweather Jr, is 17 years old and looks 15. As an amateur, he lost his first and last fights, but was 48-0 in-between.

Curmell Moton and Tank Davis
In a conversation with Fight Hype, Mayweather said that Moton would be a good match for Leigh Wood right now. Wood is the reigning WBA featherweight champion.
Mayweather uses hyperbole very sparingly. The last neophyte over whom he gushed as effusively was Gervonta “Tank” Davis. History would show that Floyd wasn’t blowing smoke.
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International Brotherhood of Prizefighters Rankings: Week of September 24, 2023

What’s in a nickname, you ask? Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang exhibited shades of the legendary “Brown Bomber”, Joe Louis; the exception being he conducts business from the port side. Zhang’s 3rd round stoppage of Joe Joyce sees Joyce exiting the top 10 in the heavyweight division. Also exiting due to inactivity is Andy Ruiz and Luis Ortiz, who last fought each other on September 4, 2022. Gaining entries are Daniel Dubois, Dillian White and Derek Chisora, at 8, 9 and 10 respectively.
At 140, Richardson Hitchins earned his asterisk with a one sided decision over Jose Zepeda. Hitchins enters the top 10 in the 7th slot, while Zepeda falls to 8th. Zhankosh Turarov drops to 9th in the world and immediately underneath him, rounding out the top 10, is Elvis Rodriguez. Scotland’s Josh Taylor gets bumped from the 10th slot.
At 108, World Champion Kenshiro Teraji defended his title with a stoppage of 4th ranked Hekkie Budler in round 9 of a scheduled 12. Budler drops to 7th, see list for reshuffle.
*Please note that when the fighter’s name appears with an asterisk it represents a movement in ranking from the previous week.
105lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Thammanoon Niyomtrong (Knockout CP Freshmart) (Thailand)
2 Panya Pradabsri (Petchmanee CP Freshmart) (Thailand)
3 Oscar Collazo (USA)
4 Ginjiro Shigeoka (Japan)
5 Daniel Valladares (Mexico)
6 Yudai Shigeoka (Japan)
7 Melvin Jerusalem (Philippines)
8 Masataka Taniguchi (Japan)
9 Rene Mark Cuarto (Philippines)
10 Yudai Shigeoka (Philippines)
108lbs
♛ Kenshiro Teraji (Japan)
1 Jonathan Gonzalez (Puerto Rico)
2 Masamichi Yabuki (Japan)
3 Sivenathi
4 Elwin Soto (Mexico)*
5 Regie Suganob (Philippines)*
6 Shokichi Iwata (Japan)*
7 Hekkie Budler (South Africa)*
8 Carlos Canizales (Venezuela)
9 Daniel Matellon (Panama)
10 Miel Fajardo (Philippines)
112lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Sunny Edwards (England)
2 Artem Dalakian (Ukraine)
3 Julio Cesar Martinez (Mexico)
4 Angel Ayala Lardizabal (Mexico)
5 David Jimenez (Costa Rica)
6 Jesse Rodriguez (USA)
7 Ricardo Sandoval (USA)
8 Felix Alvarado (Nicaragua)
9 Seigo Yuri Akui (Japan)
10 Taku Kuwahara (Japan)
115lbs
♛ Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico)
1 Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua)
2 Kazuto Ioka (Japan)
3 Fernando Martinez (Argentina)
4 Junto Nakatani (Japan)
5 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Thailand)
6 Kosei Tanaka (Japan)
7 Andrew Moloney (Australia)
8 Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (Mexico)
9 Pedro Guevara (Mexico)
10 Donnie Nietes (Philippines)
118lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Emmanuel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)
2 Alexandro Santiago (Mexico)
3 Jason Moloney (Australia)
4 Vincent Astrolabio (Philippines)
5 Gary Antonio Russell (USA)
6 Takuma Inoue (Japan)
7 Nonito Donaire (Philippines)
8 Ryosuke Nishida (Japan)
9 Keita Kurihara (Japan)
10 Paul Butler (England)
122lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Naoya Inoue (Japan)
2 Marlon Tapales (Philippines)
3 Stephen Fulton (USA)
4 Luis Nery (Mexico)
5 Murodjon Akhmadaliev (Uzbekistan)
6 Sam Goodman (Australia)
7 Azat Hovhannisyan (Armenia)
8 Kevin Gonzalez (Mexico)
9 Ra’eese Aleem (USA)
10 Liam Davies (England)
126lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Luis Alberto Lopez (Mexico)
2 Leigh Wood (England)
3 Brandon Figueroa (USA)
4 Rey Vargas (Mexico)
5 Mauricio Lara (Mexico)
6 Robeisy Ramirez (Cuba)
7 Mark Magsayo (Philippines)
8 Josh Warrington (England)
9 Reiya Abe (Japan)
10 Otabek Kholmatov (Uzbekistan)
130lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Emanuel Navarrete (Mexico)
2 Joe Cordina (Wales)
3 Hector Garcia (Dominican Republic)
4 O’Shaquie Foster (USA)
5 Oscar Valdez (Mexico)
6 Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (Tajikistan)
7 Otar Eranosyan (Georgia)
8 Lamont Roach (USA)
9 Eduardo Ramirez (Mexico)
10 Kenichi Ogawa (Japan)
135lbs
♛ Devin Haney (USA)
1 Gervonta Davis (USA)
2 Vasily Lomachenko (Ukraine)
3 Isaac Cruz (Mexico)
4 William Zepeda Segura (Mexico)
5 Frank Martin (USA)
6 Shakur Stevenson (USA)
7 Maxi Hughes (England)
8 George Kambosos Jr (Australia)
9 Keyshawn Davis (USA)
10 Raymond Muratalla (USA)
140lbs
♛ Teofimo Lopez (USA)
1 Regis Prograis (USA)
2 Jose Ramirez (USA)
3 Jack Catterall (England)*
4 Subriel Matias (Puerto Rico)*
5 Arnold Barboza Jr. (USA)*
6 Gary Antuanne Russell (USA)*
7 Richardson Hitchins (USA)*
8 Jose Zepeda (USA)*
9 Zhankosh Turarov (Kazakhstan*)
10 Elvis Rodriguez (Dominican Republic)*
147lbs
♛ Terence Crawford (USA)
1 Errol Spence (USA)
2 Jaron Ennis (USA)
3 David Avanesyan (Russia)
4 Cody Crowley (Canada)
5 Alexis Rocha (USA)
6 Rashidi Ellis (USA)
7 Souleymane Cissokho (Senegal)
8 Roiman Villa (Venezuela)
9 Egidijus Kavaliauskas (Lithuania)
10 Shakhram Giyasov (Uzbekistan)
154lbs
♛ Jermell Charlo (USA)
1 Tim Tszyu (Australia)
2 Brian Mendoza (USA)
3 Jesus Alejandro Ramos (USA)
4 Sebastian Fundora (USA)
5 Erickson Lubin (USA)
6 Michel Soro (Ivory Coast)
7 Magomed Kurbanov (Russia)
8 Tony Harrison (USA)
9 Israil Madrimov (Uzbekistan)
10 Bakhram Murtazaliev (Russia)
160lbs
♛ Vacant
1 Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)
2 Carlos Adames (Dominican Republic)
3 Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (Kazakhstan)
4 Chris Eubank Jr. (England)
5 Liam Smith (England)
6 Sergiy Derevyanchenko (Ukraine)*
7 Vincenzo Gualtieri (Germany)
8 Felix Cash (England)
9 Michael Zerafa (Australia)
10 Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)
168lbs
♛ Canelo Alvarez (Mexico)
1 David Benavidez (USA)
2 Caleb Plant (USA)
3 Christian Mbilli (France)
4 David Morrell (Cuba)
5 John Ryder (England)
6 Pavel Silyagin (Russia)
7 Vladimir Shishkin (Russia)
8 Carlos Gongora (Ecuador)
9 Jaime Munguia (Mexico)
10 Demetrius Andrade (USA)
175lbs
♛ Artur Beterbiev (Canada)
1 Dmitry Bivol (Russia)
2 Joshua Buatsi (England)
3 Callum Smith (England)
4 Joe Smith Jr. (USA)
5 Gilberto Ramirez (Mexico)
6 Anthony Yarde (England)
7 Dan Azeez (England)
8 Ali Izmailov (Russia)
9 Michael Eifert (Germany)
10 Igor Mikhalkin (Germany)
200lbs
♛ Jai Opetaia (Australia)
1 Mairis Breidis (Latvia)
2 Chris Billam-Smith (England)
3 Richard Riakporhe (England)
4 Aleksei Papin (Russia)
5 Badou Jack (Sweden)
6 Arsen Goulamirian (France)
7 Lawrence Okolie (England)
8 Yuniel Dorticos (Cuba)
9 Mateusz Masternak (Poland)
10 Ilunga Makabu (So. Africa)
Unlimited
♛ Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine)
1 Tyson Fury (England)
2 Zhilei Zhang (China)
3 Deontay Wilder (USA)
4 Anthony Joshua (England)
5 Filip Hrgovic (Croatia)
6 Arslanbek Makhmudov (Russia)*
7 Frank Sanchez (Cuba)*
8 Daniel Dubois (England)*
9 Dillian White (England)*
10 Derek Chisora (Zimbabwe)*
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Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey
The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.
Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.
Since those fights, both have been treading water.
Gassiev
Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.
A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.
Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.
Wallin
Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.
Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.
It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.
Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.
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