EXCLUSIVE: Q n A With New NYSAC Exec Director David Berlin

Published

11 years ago

May 17, 2014

The New York State Athletic Commission has a new staffer in the mix, with the hiring of attorney David Berlin by Governor Andrew Cuomo as executive director. The Governor announced the appointment of the attorney, who will be responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the commission, on March 26.

The NYSAC has been under a microscope a bit, following the Nov. 2, 2013 bout pitting MikePerez against Magomed Abdusalamov at Madison Square Garden.

Abdusalamov, a Russian heavyweight and Florida resident, went back and forth with Perez for ten rounds, and was not long after the rumble taken to a local hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. He is currently in a rehab facility, working on regaining his faculties. (UPDATE, MONDAY MAY 19: I spoke to Mago’s cousin, Aminulla Suleymanov. He told the fighter has made some progress recently, maybe not as much as the family would hope, but they are all holding it together. “Mago’s parents are here,” he reported. “Thanks for the interest!” Good news, Mago can now say peoples’ names, and eat–he likes yogurt and ice cream–using his own left arm. Mago does have some use of his right arm, as well.)

A commission source not authorized to speak on the record informed me that a search for an executive director was in the works as much as six months before the Abdusalamov situation. So, the source told me, any inference that Berlin, age 50, was hired in response to that occurrence, and a pending suit lodged by the Abdusalamov family, which targets the commission for alleged procedural errors, is incorrect. I touched base with Berlin, who joins chairwoman Melvina Lathan, and commissioners Edwin Torres and John Signorile, and fired some queries at him to get a better sense of who he is, and what he sees is his mission.

Woods Q) For those unfamiliar with you, and your background, could you offer a short synopsis, and include how your history will make your tenure successful?

??Berlin A) I used to watch the fights with my father when I was a kid – that’s when boxing was televised on ABC and NBC on Saturday afternoons – but I really became hooked when my older brother Adam took me to my first live fights at the Felt Forum, which was the smaller venue inside Madison Square Garden. I was 15 years old and was visiting Adam, who was 18 and spending a year in New York City after high school. I don’t remember who fought but I remember the atmosphere and I remember feeling how different it was from watching on TV and how much more real. It was brutal but also beautiful, and I was attracted to it because it was so basic, so elemental, so stripped down. That was the beginning of my love for the sport, and my passion has continued to this day. Adam and I were regulars at the Felt Forum when we were both in our 20s and both living in New York. I attended law school in New York, at NYU, and started working out at Gleason’s Gym at that time, and later, when I was already a lawyer, I had a few amateur fights and won a Golden Gloves tournament in Florida. When I started my own practice as a lawyer, I was fortunate to be able to combine my profession with my passion, and I became involved in the sport as a boxing attorney and manager. I’ve also had a chance to write about the sport and my ideas for making it better. What will drive me in my new position? It is simple. I care about the sport and I care about the boxers who ply their trade in the sweet science. I want what the boxers and the fans want. I want to see the fighter who wins the fight have his or her hand raised in victory through competent judging and refereeing. I want to see competitive fights. I want to see a healthy sport where promoters succeed, because that will allow fighters to fight and to grow as fighters and to earn a living.

Q) What fight was your first on the job, and how did it go? What was the most surprising lesson learned, if any??

A) My first fight as Executive Director took place on May 10 in Whitehall, New York. It is a small town on the Vermont border and is a good reminder that New York State is far more than just New York City. Greg Gross, who started promoting boxing last year, has a beautiful facility, the Whitehall Athletic Club, and put on a pro-am card with four professional bouts, including a very exciting and very close main event. Ronica Jeffrey, who came into the fight undefeated at 13-0, lost her perfect record in a split decision loss to Carla Torres, who fights out of Cleveland. This is the second time the two have fought, and given how competitive the fight was, it’s no surprise that each of them can claim a victory over the other. I’d love to see a rubber match come to New York.

Q) Are you a fan of boxing? I’m assuming so, based on your years working with fighters and in this milieu. What attracts you to the sports and its athletes? What function does boxing serve in society, in your view?

A) Part of my attraction is visceral. It is competition at its most basic. No bats or balls, no nets, no goals, just two men or women in the ring using their skill, speed, strength and intelligence, and having their will and mental fortitude tested at the highest levels. I’m attracted to that. I love its simplicity. I am also drawn to boxing because of the human element. Boxing is a sport of underdogs. I spent many years working as a public defender. I have also represented children with disabilities, children in need of special education services. And I remain actively involved with the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation, a not-for-profit that was founded and is led by Teddy Atlas. It’s an organization that runs youth programs and also helps individuals and families that have nowhere else to turn, people in difficult or even desperate situations who need help; and the foundation helps. I care about people in difficult situations. Boxing can be a way out for underdogs, for young people who might not have other places to turn, who might not have the support and structure in their lives that young people should have. Boxing can provide that support and structure. Young people find it in the gym. They find it in the guidance that they receive from their coaches, and in the discipline that boxing demands. They gain a confidence, a self-assuredness, a self- esteem that they didn’t have before, and that allows them to grow as individuals. Very few go on to make a living from boxing, but the vast majority become better people.

Q) What specifically will you bring to the table, and what do you want to achieve in this position?

A) I bring a knowledge of boxing and a care for the boxers. As a boxing lawyer, I represented boxers, trainers, managers and promoters. I negotiated boxing contracts and represented boxers and other people in the sport before athletic commissions, in arbitrations and in court. I traveled in connection with my work and had a chance to see how commissions function all over the globe. So I have a breadth of experience to draw from as I begin with the Commission. In terms of my personal qualities, I believe that I bring common sense, a basic competence, good judgment and a willingness to listen. There are a lot of people who care about the sport and who have ideas for making the sport better. I intend to listen to those ideas, to create an atmosphere that is open to ideas and is transparent. My hope is that I will be able to bring practical solutions to some of boxing’s problematic issues. And of course I will work to make certain that fighters, and the sport as a whole, are well protected.

Q) Can you give us a sense on how your hiring, and the activation of this new position, will change how the commission does its business? How will duties be parceled out? What changes do you foresee making, if any?

A) New York has decided to adopt a more traditional structure for the Athletic Commission. Similar to Nevada and California and Pennsylvania and Florida, an executive director will carry out the day-to-day duties involved in regulating and overseeing boxing, and will report to a board of Commissioners and carry out the policies set by the Commissioners.Q) Can you offer your view of boxing in New York, how healthy the sport is in NY and overall? A) New York is called the mecca of boxing, and I believe that with the growing number of shows in the state and the growing number of major shows at Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center, the moniker is still appropriate. There were 52 shows held in New York State in 2013, and we will have held 19 by the end of May this year. In June we have Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez at the Garden and a week later Ruslan Provodnikov is fighting Chris Algieri at Barclays. Exciting fights are being made and taking place in this great state and that is very healthy for the sport.

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Michael Woods

“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Published

13 hours ago

May 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.

It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.

In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.

Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.

It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.

“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.

Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.

Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.

Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.

We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.

Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”

But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.

“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”

Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.

Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”

If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38^th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.

Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”

Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.

Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.

On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Published

3 days ago

May 6, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-(mostly)-Ugly-A-Weeend-Boxing-Recap-and-More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.

In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.

Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.

CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.

****

Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.

Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”

And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer

Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.

Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.

In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.

When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.

Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.

May he rest in peace.

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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