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TSS EXCLUSIVE: Amir Khan Talks About The Poll, and Why He’d Beat Floyd

You might have heard that Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana are the two fighters thought to be the two possibilities for Floyd Mayweather to fight in his next bout, which will unfold on May 3 in Las Vegas.
I had the opportunity to talk at length with Khan, who resides in England and also in the US, where he does much of his training. We talked about Mayweather’s fan poll, Khan’s credentials to fight Mayweather, the media, Khan’s Army and Khan’s Army of haters. We also touched on Khan’s fight with Marcos Maidana and his drawing power with people outside of boxing.
Over the course of the chat, it became clear to me that Khan idolized Floyd Mayweather. But today is a new day; Khan believes he has more boxing skills than Floyd Mayweather, and if he gets the chance to fight Floyd, it goes without saying, in my mind, that his idolatry of Money will go out the window. I sense that he would force more of a fight than recent foes have, and with his penchant for trading, would give fans who buy the PPV better bang for the buck than they got in the Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez fights.
Read on as I pick the brain of the man that is ready to perhaps sign on for the biggest fight of his life.
Ray Markarian: What do you say to the people that say you don’t deserve the Floyd Mayweather fight?
Amir Khan: Well, styles make fights. People can say he has beaten guys with speed and power. He has done a great job against everyone. He has beaten guys with decent footwork. Well, we bring all of those ingredients to the table.
RM: OK.
AK: I never want to leave the sport not knowing how I would have done against the best fighter out there.
RM: What does a Floyd Mayweather fight mean to you?
AK: Well, at the end of the day you have to look at his record. He has fought the best out there. To have the opportunity fight a guy like him… He is the best fighter I watched growing up, you know. I always wanted to see how I could do against the best.
RM: Yeah.
AK: I remember in the amateurs, I fought the best amateur in the world and he beat me. He was a Cuban guy. I got beat the first time we fought at 132 pounds. But I had to fight him again just to know how I would do against the best. The second time I fought him, I beat him. So then I thought, this is the best time to turn professional because I never want to leave a sport thinking that I never fought the best and I never beat the best.
RM: So, if you didn’t fight Mayweather you would regret it for the rest of your life?
AK: Yeah. Definitely. I’d regret it because there is stuff that I have that would cause him so many problems. My style is unorthodox. It’s just different. Yes, I’ve lost. Yes, I’ve been knocked out. But I don’t think I have ever lost a fight when it comes down to boxing. And I have never been in a boring fight. When I come to fight I come to fight.
RM: Tell me about the flaws that you see in Floyd Mayweather’s game.
AK: He has never faced anyone as quick and explosive as me. I definitely know that. If you look at his previous fight with Victor Ortiz, speed and explosiveness gets to him. Ortiz got beat but when he would explode towards Floyd it was effective. Speed and explosiveness gets to him.
RM: Maidana rushes his opponents too…
AK: Yes, he does. I mean, look, Maidana is a good fighter. I have nothing against him. I beat him before. But I don’t want to talk about that. His fight style is slow and flat-footed. At the end of the day this fight needs to sell on pay per view. Floyd is going to walk him and beat him up. Floyd is going to dictate from the first round on. But with me, he can never dictate a fight. I won’t let him control the fight.
RM: But Floyd has controlled all of his fights. Is that fair to say?
AK: Yes.
RM: Why can’t Floyd dictate a fight with you?
AK: I just won’t let him. That’s the style I have.
RM: Can you explain that to me?
AK: Floyd beats people with single shots, accuracy, and good footwork. He can’t dictate a fight against me because I beat him with footwork and speed. I can keep up with him in many departments. When people can’t keep up with him they get disheartened. He will never dishearten me.
RM: Adrien Broner and Robert Guerrero are names I have heard as possible opponents for you if you don’t get the Mayweather fight. Is there any truth to those rumors?
AK: You know, to be honest with you Ray, Virgil Hunter and I have been focusing on one thing. When I heard that I was a possible opponent for Mayweather, I have focused on just him.
RM: Do you have any control over what is going to happen as far as his decision to fight you?
AK: Look, we are normally the big fish. We control things. We pick opponents. And we dictate the negotiations. With Floyd, we have to put our hands up because he is the bigger name. He is the bigger draw. We have to listen to what he says. Remember when he was fighting Oscar De La Hoya? Oscar was the main man like Floyd is now. Oscar was dictating everything. I remember Oscar made Floyd wear Reyes gloves when he didn’t want to wear Reyes. So, we are in the same position as Floyd now. And every dog has his day, you know. I want to beat Floyd the same way he beat Oscar.
RM: So, what is the hold up with the fight?
AK: Look man, if they want to fight, I’m here. OK. We’re working in the gym. Floyd knows that I am preparing for him and no one else. And if for some reason he doesn’t fight me, then I really believe he is worried. There is no other reason why he wouldn’t fight me. If I am so vulnerable, then why doesn’t he fight me?
RM: Yeah.
AK: If you look outside of hardcore fight fans there is no way he does better numbers than me. I bring fans from the UK, Asia, and the Muslim community. If boxing is a business, and this fight is about giving people an exciting fight and making the most money, then Floyd Mayweather vs. Amir Khan is a no brainer.
RM: You bring up an interesting point, because it seems like the boxing public has a love/hate relationship with you. What do you say to the people that think you sound desperate for a Floyd Mayweather fight?
AK: I’m not desperate. I am just responding to the fans. Look, I am not comparing myself to Floyd Mayweather with his fancy cars and big houses, but I have a great personality. I love to engage with the fans.
RM: But sometimes there are people that question your credentials and challenge you on Twitter and you don’t have a problem responding to them.
AK: Look, I’m a young man. I’m not running around here pretending to have the answer to the world. I know I have put my foot in my mouth sometimes when I have said things. I understand that. Everybody that has been my age has said things that they regret. We’ve all said and done some foolish things. But as long as I continue to grow it doesn’t matter. But besides all that, I’m ready to fight Floyd Mayweather on May 3rd.
RM: OK.
AK: And I am ready to beat Floyd Mayweather.
RM: Right.
AK: Right now Floyd can minimize me. He can show a picture of me getting knocked out. I have been stopped. I acknowledge that. But a lot of guys he fought have been stopped too. I think most of the guys he fought recently besides Mosley, Guerrero, and Canelo, were knocked out before he fought them. That shouldn’t be a reason why he doesn’t fight me. And if you want to be truthful, let’s ask Danny Garcia or some of the other opponents that I fought if they want a rematch. I don’t see anyone really anxious to rematch me. I have tried to rematch Garcia and Lamont Peterson. I don’t see anyone anxious to have a rematch with me. Both of them would make big money to fight me again. People say, “Why didn’t you give Prescott a rematch?” Prescott never put himself in a position of business to get a rematch.
RM: This is a business.
AK: Right. Two fights after the Prescott fight I was a world champion.
RM: Yeah.
AK: It’s my job to continue to grow as a fighter.
RM: I hear you.
AK: You know, no fighter in the world can say that – I called Amir Khan out and he didn’t want to fight me. I have never said no to any fight. Whenever Golden Boy said fight Zab, fight Maidana, fight Peterson, fight Garcia, I always said yes. That’s the type of guy I am. It just shows that I’ll fight who ever they want me to fight. If I were a businessman I would have taken other routes. And sometimes I haven’t made the right business moves by fighting guys when I don’t need to fight them.
RM: So, is the possible Mayweather fight a business decision?
AK: The rewards of money come with fighting Floyd Mayweather. I appreciate that. He is such a high-profile fighter. But it’s also about pride. I want to beat Floyd. I know where that fight could take me. A lot of people say that Floyd is invincible. I know for a fact that he will get hit numerous times against me. I’m too fast for him. Look, financially I’m set. I am blessed. I have made a lot of money in boxing and planting money in real estate. I am very fortunate that way. I have a great team around me. But this fight is also about pride for me. I think he knows that.
RM: Why do you think he knows?
AK: I think that’s why he is making me wait so long. It’s a mind game to him. He knows this is a challenging fight for him. I am not coming to get a paycheck. I am coming to beat him.RM: I hear you. When’s the last time you heard from anyone in the Floyd Mayweather camp or even Golden Boy? When’s the last time you got an email, or voice mail or text from someone on Floyd’s side about the fight?
AK: Well, it was roughly around the time the poll was done. I spoke with Richard Schaefer. He told me to be patient. They are working on things. And we don’t know what Floyd is doing because Floyd is the boss. And he is acting like a boss.
RM: Did you idolize him growing up?
AK: Oh yeah, Ray. He is a great champion. I still like watching him. He is a great fighter. The only reason I want to fight him is because I see something in his style that I could take advantage of.
RM: Your uncle Taz told me that you have a poster of Floyd Mayweather on your wall.
AK: Yeah, I have a poster of him in my gym in the UK of when he fought Gatti. The fight was called Thunder and Lightning. It was a great performance. It was for the WBC title. Ever since then, Floyd has gotten bigger and bigger. And let me tell you something that no one sees – I am never the underdog in a fight. This fight I have so much to prove. I am the underdog.
RM: Virgil Hunter told me that he has no strategy, or overall plan for you in a fight against Floyd Mayweather. He just wants you to watch Floyd. Hunter told me that he is challenging you to memorize Floyd. Tell me more about that.
AK: Well, you have to think. When people fight Floyd they only look for that one big punch. I am not looking for that big punch. I know I can beat him with boxing skills. I am not going to beat him with power. I am going to beat him with skills.
RM: What do you make of the fans poll on Floyd Mayweather’s website. Do you think it was legitimate?
AK: I do think it’s legit. I read something that Floyd Sr. said that Khan would be an easy fight for Floyd Jr. Well, if that is the case then put your son in there. If you want to listen to the fans on your poll, then listen to what the fans have to say. If he is really a man of his word then we got the fight. It’s almost stupid really, why put a poll on your website for the fans to vote for your next opponent and then not listen to the votes? Other websites had polls too. But that doesn’t really make a difference. It’s his website that counts. The other people that voted on other websites might just be regular sports fans. The fans that voted on Mayweather’s poll are true boxing fans.
RM: Was there some sort of agreement among you Floyd Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions to pass on the Devon Alexander fight in December?
AK: No, there wasn’t an agreement. You know, after Floyd fought Canelo I called Richard Schaefer and said, “I’d fight Floyd Mayweather next.” I was interested right away. Richard thought it was a great idea. He said you know what, that would be an amazing fight.
RM: I see.
AK: So, we spoke about it. But it wasn’t an official agreement. And I kept it quiet. I didn’t tell anyone. I just kept training. Now the fans are getting anxious. I know it’s between me and Marcos Maidana. That’s what I know.
RM: I have read recent reports that say Mayweather/Maidana is already confirmed. What do you think?
AK: You know Ray, I have read and heard the same thing. But I have not heard anything from Mayweather. He is the only person I am waiting for. We are waiting for him to decide.
RM: I think Floyd’s decision is between you and Marcos Maidana because Maidana beat Adrien Broner.
AK: Yes. He beat Broner. But I have beaten Marcos Maidana. Why does he want to fight my leftovers? I knocked Maidana down and beat him in a unanimous decision.
RM: What if he picks to fight Maidana? Where you do go next?
AK: If he picks Maidana it will be a push back for me. To be honest with you, whoever my next opponent is will get hurt.
RM: So, in other words, if he picks Maidana you will be disappointed.
AK: Yeah. All of the hard work… There is so much I want to prove in this fight. There is a lot I want to prove for my future. It’s not about proving it to myself. I want to prove it to my fans and the haters. I can honestly make peoples’ mind change after this fight.
RM: You want to prove that you can beat Floyd Mayweather to the ones that doubt you?
AK: Well, deep inside of me, I know I got it. I mostly want to prove it to all the haters out there that talk smack. Because the haters can say what they want, but they have never seen me fight against a guy that could outbox me. No fighter can outbox me. Floyd won’t do it either. I can’t see Floyd out-boxing me.
You can send Ray an email at Raymond.Markarian@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter here @raymarkarian.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 323: Benn vs Eubank Family Feud and More

Next generation rivals Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. carry on the family legacy of feudal warring in the prize ring on Saturday.
This is huge in British boxing.
Eubank (34-3, 25 KOs) holds the fringe IBO middleweight title but won’t be defending it against the smaller welterweight Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday, April 26, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.
This is about family pride.
The parents of Eubank and Benn actually began the feud in the 1990s.
Papa Nigel Benn fought Papa Chris Eubank twice. Losing as a middleweight in November 1990 at Birmingham, England, then fighting to a draw as a super middleweight in October 1993 in Manchester. Both were world title fights.
Eubank was undefeated and won the WBO middleweight world title in 1990 against Nigel Benn by knockout. He defended it three times before moving up and winning the vacant WBO super middleweight title in September 1991. He defended the super middleweight title 14 times until suffering his first pro defeat in March 1995 against Steve Collins.
Benn won the WBO middleweight title in April 1990 against Doug DeWitt and defended it once before losing to Eubank in November 1990. He moved up in weight and took the WBC super middleweight title from Mauro Galvano in Italy by technical knockout in October 1992. He defended the title nine times until losing in March 1996. His last fight was in November 1996, a loss to Steve Collins.
Animosity between the two families continues this weekend in the boxing ring.
Conor Benn, the son of Nigel, has fought mostly as a welterweight but lately has participated in the super welterweight division. He is several inches shorter in height than Eubank but has power and speed. Kind of a British version of Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
“It’s always personal, every opponent I fight is personal. People want to say it’s strictly business, but it’s never business. If someone is trying to put their hands on me, trying to render me unconscious, it’s never business,” said Benn.
This fight was scheduled twice before and cut short twice due to failed PED tests by Benn. The weight limit agreed upon is 160 pounds.
Eubank, a natural middleweight, has exchanged taunts with Benn for years. He recently avenged a loss to Liam Smith with a knockout victory in September 2023.
“This fight isn’t about size or weight. It’s about skill. It’s about dedication. It’s about expertise and all those areas in which I excel in,” said Eubank. “I have many, many more years of experience over Conor Benn, and that will be the deciding factor of the night.”
Because this fight was postponed twice, the animosity between the two feuding fighters has increased the attention of their fans. Both fighters are anxious to flatten each other.
“He’s another opponent in my way trying to crush my dreams. trying to take food off my plate and trying to render me unconscious. That’s how I look at him,” said Benn.
Eubank smiles.
“Whether it’s boxing, whether it’s a gun fight. Defense, offense, foot movement, speed, power. I am the superior boxer in each of those departments and so many more – which is why I’m so confident,” he said.
Supporting Bout
Former world champion Liam Smith (33-4-1, 20 KOs) tangles with Ireland’s Aaron McKenna (19-0, 10 KOs) in a middleweight fight set for 12 rounds on the Benn-Eubank undercard in London.
“Beefy” Smith has long been known as one of the fighting Smith brothers and recently lost to Eubank a year and a half ago. It was only the second time in 38 bouts he had been stopped. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez did it several years ago.
McKenna is a familiar name in Southern California. The Irish fighter fought numerous times on Golden Boy Promotion cards between 2017 and 2019 before returning to the United Kingdom and his assault on continuing the middleweight division. This is a big step for the tall Irish fighter.
It’s youth versus experience.
“I’ve been calling for big fights like this for the last two or three years, and it’s a fight I’m really excited for. I plan to make the most of it and make a statement win on Saturday night,” said McKenna, one of two fighting brothers.
Monster in L.A.
Japan’s super star Naoya “Monster” Inoue arrived in Los Angeles for last day workouts before his Las Vegas showdown against Ramon Cardenas on Sunday May 4, at T-Mobile Arena. ESPN will televise and stream the Top Rank card.
It’s been four years since the super bantamweight world champion performed in the US and during that time Naoya (29-0, 26 KOs) gathered world titles in different weight divisions. The Japanese slugger has also gained fame as perhaps the best fighter on the planet. Cardenas is 26-1 with 14 KOs.
Pomona Fights
Super featherweights Mathias Radcliffe (9-0-1) and Ezequiel Flores (6-4) lead a boxing card called “DMG Night of Champions” on Saturday April 26, at the historic Fox Theater in downtown Pomona, Calif.
Michaela Bracamontes (11-2-1) and Jesus Torres Beltran (8-4-1) will be fighting for a regional WBC super featherweight title. More than eight bouts are scheduled.
Doors open at 6 p.m. For ticket information go to: www.tix.com/dmgnightofchampions
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 9 a.m. Conor Benn (23-0) vs Chris Eubank Jr. (34-3); Liam Smith (33-4-1) vs Aaron McKenna (19-0).
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Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton

Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton
In any endeavor, the defining feature of a phenom is his youth. Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper was a phenom. He was on the radar screen of baseball’s most powerful player agents when he was 14 years old.
Curmel Moton, who turns 19 in June, is a phenom. Of all the young boxing stars out there, wrote James Slater in July of last year, “Curmel Moton is the one to get most excited about.”
Moton was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father Curtis Moton, a barber by trade, was a big boxing fan and specifically a big fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. When Curmel was six, Curtis packed up his wife (Curmel’s stepmom) and his son and moved to Las Vegas. Curtis wanted his son to get involved in boxing and there was no better place to develop one’s latent talents than in Las Vegas where many of the sport’s top practitioners came to train.
Many father-son relationships have been ruined, or at least frayed, by a father’s unrealistic expectations for his son, but when it came to boxing, the boy was a natural and he felt right at home in the gym.
The gym the Motons patronized was the Mayweather Boxing Club. Curtis took his son there in hopes of catching the eye of the proprietor. “Floyd would occasionally drop by the gym and I was there so often that he came to recognize me,” says Curmel. What he fails to add is that the trainers there had Floyd’s ear. “This kid is special,” they told him.
It costs a great deal of money for a kid to travel around the country competing in a slew of amateur boxing tournaments. Only a few have the luxury of a sponsor. For the vast majority, fund raisers such as car washes keep the wheels greased.
Floyd Mayweather stepped in with the financial backing needed for the Motons to canvas the country in tournaments. As an amateur, Curmel was — take your pick — 156-7 or 144-6 or 61-3 (the latter figure from boxrec). Regardless, at virtually every tournament at which he appeared, Curmel Moton was the cock of the walk.
Before the pandemic, Floyd Mayweather Jr had a stable of boxers he promoted under the banner of “The Money Team.” In talking about his boxers, Floyd was understated with one glaring exception – Gervonta “Tank” Davis, now one of boxing’s top earners.
When Floyd took to praising Curmel Moton with the same effusive language, folks stood up and took notice.
Curmel made his pro debut on Sept. 30, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the undercard of the super middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo. After stopping his opponent in the opening round, he addressed a flock of reporters in the media room with Floyd standing at his side. “I felt ready,” he said, “I knew I had Floyd behind me. He believes in me. I had the utmost confidence going into the fight. And I went in there and did what I do.”
Floyd ventured the opinion that Curmel was already a better fighter than Leigh Wood, the reigning WBA world featherweight champion who would successfully defend his belt the following week.
Moton’s boxing style has been described as a blend of Floyd Mayweather and Tank Davis. “I grew up watching Floyd, so it’s natural I have some similarities to him,” says Curmel who sparred with Tank in late November of 2021 as Davis was preparing for his match with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Curmell says he did okay. He was then 15 years old and still in school; he dropped out as soon as he reached the age of 16.
Curmel is now 7-0 with six KOs, four coming in the opening round. He pitched an 8-round shutout the only time he was taken the distance. It’s not yet official, but he returns to the ring on May 31 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas where Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo are co-featured in matches conceived as tune-ups for a fall showdown. The fight card will reportedly be free for Amazon Prime Video subscribers.
Curmel’s presumptive opponent is Renny Viamonte, a 28-year-old Las Vegas-based Cuban with a 4-1-1 (2) record. It will be Curmel’s first professional fight with Kofi Jantuah the chief voice in his corner. A two-time world title challenger who began his career in his native Ghana, the 50-year-old Jantuah has worked almost exclusively with amateurs, a recent exception being Mikaela Mayer.
It would seem that the phenom needs a tougher opponent than Viamonte at this stage of his career. However, the match is intriguing in one regard. Viamonte is lanky. Listed at 5-foot-11, he will have a seven-inch height advantage.
Keeping his weight down has already been problematic for Moton. He tipped the scales at 128 ½ for his most recent fight. His May 31 bout, he says, will be contested at 135 and down the road it’s reasonable to think he will blossom into a welterweight. And with each bump up in weight, his short stature will theoretically be more of a handicap.
For fun, we asked Moton to name the top fighter on his pound-for-pound list. “[Oleksandr] Usyk is number one right now,” he said without hesitation,” great footwork, but guys like Canelo, Crawford, Inoue, and Bivol are right there.”
It’s notable that there isn’t a young gun on that list. Usyk is 38, a year older than Crawford; Inoue is the pup at age 32.
Moton anticipates that his name will appear on pound-for-pound lists within the next two or three years. True, history is replete with examples of phenoms who flamed out early, but we wouldn’t bet against it.
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Arne’s Almanac: The First Boxing Writers Assoc. of America Dinner Was Quite the Shindig

The first annual dinner of the Boxing Writers Association of America was staged on April 25, 1926 in the grand ballroom of New York’s Hotel Astor, an edifice that rivaled the original Waldorf Astoria as the swankiest hotel in the city. Back then, the organization was known as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York.
The ballroom was configured to hold 1200 for the banquet which was reportedly oversubscribed. Among those listed as agreeing to attend were the governors of six states (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland) and the mayors of 10 of America’s largest cities.
In 1926, radio was in its infancy and the digital age was decades away (and inconceivable). So, every journalist who regularly covered boxing was a newspaper and/or magazine writer, editor, or cartoonist. And at this juncture in American history, there were plenty of outlets for someone who wanted to pursue a career as a sportswriter and had the requisite skills to get hired.
The following papers were represented at the inaugural boxing writers’ dinner:
New York Times
New York News
New York World
New York Sun
New York Journal
New York Post
New York Mirror
New York Telegram
New York Graphic
New York Herald Tribune
Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn Times
Brooklyn Standard Union
Brooklyn Citizen
Bronx Home News
This isn’t a complete list because a few of these papers, notably the New York World and the New York Journal, had strong afternoon editions that functioned as independent papers. Plus, scribes from both big national wire services (Associated Press and UPI) attended the banquet and there were undoubtedly a smattering of scribes from papers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Back then, the event’s organizer Nat Fleischer, sports editor of the New York Telegram and the driving force behind The Ring magazine, had little choice but to limit the journalistic component of the gathering to writers in the New York metropolitan area. There wasn’t a ballroom big enough to accommodate a good-sized response if he had extended the welcome to every boxing writer in North America.
The keynote speaker at the inaugural dinner was New York’s charismatic Jazz Age mayor James J. “Jimmy” Walker, architect of the transformative Walker Law of 1920 which ushered in a new era of boxing in the Empire State with a template that would guide reformers in many other jurisdictions.
Prizefighting was then associated with hooligans. In his speech, Mayor Walker promised to rid the sport of their ilk. “Boxing, as you know, is closest to my heart,” said hizzoner. “So I tell you the police force is behind you against those who would besmirch or injure boxing. Rowdyism doesn’t belong in this town or in your game.” (In 1945, Walker would be the recipient of the Edward J. Neil Memorial Award given for meritorious service to the sport. The oldest of the BWAA awards, the previous recipients were all active or former boxers. The award, no longer issued under that title, was named for an Associated Press sportswriter and war correspondent who died from shrapnel wounds covering the Spanish Civil War.)
Another speaker was well-traveled sportswriter Wilbur Wood, then affiliated with the Brooklyn Citizen. He told the assembly that the aim of the organization was two-fold: to help defend the game against its detractors and to promote harmony among the various factions.
Of course, the 1926 dinner wouldn’t have been as well-attended without the entertainment. According to press dispatches, Broadway stars and performers from some of the city’s top nightclubs would be there to regale the attendees. Among the names bandied about were vaudeville superstars Sophie Tucker and Jimmy Durante, the latter of whom would appear with his trio, Durante, (Lou) Clayton, and (Eddie) Jackson.
There was a contraction of New York newspapers during the Great Depression. Although empirical evidence is lacking, the inaugural boxing writers dinner was likely the largest of its kind. Fifteen years later, in 1941, the event drew “more than 200” according to a news report. There was no mention of entertainment.
In 1950, for the first time, the annual dinner was opened to the public. For $25, a civilian could get a meal and mingle with some of his favorite fighters. Sugar Ray Robinson was the Edward J. Neil Award winner that year, honored for his ring exploits and for donating his purse from the Charlie Fusari fight to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.
There was no formal announcement when the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York was re-christened the Boxing Writers Association of America, but by the late 1940s reporters were referencing the annual event as simply the boxing writers dinner. By then, it had become traditional to hold the annual affair in January, a practice discontinued after 1971.
The winnowing of New York’s newspaper herd plus competing banquets in other parts of the country forced Nat Fleischer’s baby to adapt. And more adaptations will be necessary in the immediate future as the future of the BWAA, as it currently exists, is threatened by new technologies. If the forthcoming BWAA dinner (April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in mid-Manhattan) were restricted to wordsmiths from the traditional print media, the gathering would be too small to cover the nut and the congregants would be drawn disproportionately from the geriatric class.
Some of those adaptations have already started. Last year, Las Vegas resident Sean Zittel, a recent UNLV graduate, had the distinction of becoming the first videographer welcomed into the BWAA. With more and more people getting their news from sound bites, rather than the written word, the videographer serves an important function.
The reporters who conducted interviews with pen and paper have gone the way of the dodo bird and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A taped interview for a “talkie” has more integrity than a story culled from a paper and pen interview because it is unfiltered. Many years ago, some reporters, after interviewing the great Joe Louis, put words in his mouth that made him seem like a dullard, words consistent with the Sambo stereotype. In other instances, the language of some athletes was reconstructed to the point where the reader would think the athlete had a second job as an English professor.
The content created by videographers is free from that bias. More of them will inevitably join the BWAA and similar organizations in the future.
Photo: Nat Fleischer is flanked by Sugar Ray Robinson and Tony Zale at the 1947 boxing writers dinner.
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