THE STERN VIEW: Fightnight Reports From FS1 Cali Card

Published

11 years ago

August 25, 2014

Joel Stern

On Friday night August 22^nd, a sold out crowd of close to 1200 filled the Allan Witt Sports Center in Fairfield, CA and watched junior featherweight prospect Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila and heavyweight prospect Gerald Washington emerge victorious on a FOX Sports 1 televised card presented by Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Production and Paco Presents.

Fighting in his hometown, Manuel Avila, 16(7)-0, shined and displayed a rising confidence befitting a boxer turning into one of the top prospects of his division.

Gerald Washington’s struggle with veteran Nagy Aguilera, 19(13)-9, left questions of his ability to advance to the elite level.

Fairfield’s Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila entered the ring in bright white attire and to the crowd’s refrain of “Tino’s House.” Bouncing on his toes awaiting the signal from the TV broadcast that the fight could begin, Avila’s face was frozen in concentration. Sitting on a chair outside of the ring was his trainer, Al LaGardo. LaGardo has trained Avila since he was an amateur. Health issues prevent LaGardo from entering the ring, but he relays his instructions to his assistant coaches, all of whom hail from the Vacaville PAL, which Al runs with an iron fist. LaGardo can be seen at amateur shows operating the same way, often warming up elementary school age boxers while sitting in a chair using his hands as punch mitts.

Avila normally begins a fight sitting back, getting a read on his opponent and looking to counter. This night, Avila stalked his opponent, Sergio Frias, 15(8)-4-2, of Guadalajara, Mex, from the start. Working behind a sharp, fast jab, and showing Frias no respect, Avila was seeking to destroy. Avila dropped Frias with left hook and then dropped him a second time with a series of right cross, left hooks. Tino looked to finish off Frias in the final 10 seconds of the first, throwing a lot of punches and injuring his left hand in the process.

Frias collected his wits well in between rounds and began the 2^nd looking to fight his fight, but Avila was just superior. From the 2^nd through 4^th round, Avila controlled the fight with his crisp jab and his counters, favoring either a 2-3 or a 3-2 thrown tight, quick and compact. Somewhere in the 4^th Avila injured his right hand. From the 5^th through 7^th, Avila changed tactics and let Frias chase him around the ring, stinging Frias with his jab while mostly working defense.

Worn down from the early punishment, the energy expended chasing Avila and the damage from repeatedly eating a hard jab on the chin all night, Frias began the 8^th with no choice but to go for it. After opening up on Avila early in the round, Frias stumbled after getting hit a jab. Sensing Frias had nothing left, Avila drove Frias to the ropes with a flurry and put him down with a digging left hook with the body. Frias’ corner threw in the white towel just as the referee called off the fight.

With this fight, Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila may have entered a new phase of his career. He is no longer a young fighter transitioning from amateur boxing to professional. At 22 years of age, he is now a professional with full confidence in his abilities and operating under the realization that he can and should, even if injured, dispatch lesser men. Avila is ready to climb.

The supporters of heavyweight Gerald Washington, 14(10)-0, wear shirts with “Champion on the Rise” emblazoned on the back. A former USC Trojan football player and fringe NFL tight end, Washington is looking to buck the trend of former football players who turn out to be failed heavyweights. Having boxed as a youth and with backing from Al Haymon, maybe Gerald Washington will be different. After his anemic eight round unanimous decision victory over Nagy Aguilera, Gerald Washington has much more work to do if he plans on reaching his goals.

Washington is a good athlete who utilized decent footwork to evade Aguilera’s constant pressure, but he pushes his punches instead of snapping them, has issues with activity and stamina, and brings his jab hand back to his waist each time he throws. His constant circling off brought catcalls and boos from the crowd. Nagy Aguilera was correct in his prediction that he would have to knock Washington out in order to get a victory.

The television star of the night was Manuel Avila. The actual stars of the actual event, held in a building that functions as a community center, were the members of the local Northern California boxing community, who were given the opportunity to celebrate themselves.

Ricardo Carrillo, a garbage truck driver, who has spent almost every day after work for over 20 years running the Woodland Boxing Club, who has taught thousands of kids their first punch, and who has trained an Olympian, gets to work the glove table, don a sports coat and catch a glimpse of himself in the ring on national television. Local professional boxers not fighting that night get to be guests of honor, walk tall, see the young men who they spar with compete, talk to each other about their next fight or the frustration of finding a next fight, and talk about their careers with the few people who have witnessed them and care about their journeys. In the ring, at the conclusion of each bout, promoter Paco Damian, in charge of the nuts and bolts of the promotion under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Don Chargin, can be seen expressing his authenticate appreciation to each of the boxers, from the main event fighter to the four round boxers who will never progress beyond a few fights at these local shows.

And the fans themselves starred. Most of the crowd was young and minority, coming from communities where boxing still matters, wearing shirts in support of the boxer from their neighborhood, their boxing gym or their family. ‘Team Rhino’, ‘Kennel Boxing Club’, ‘Gallo Negro’, ‘Tino’, ‘Team Robb’, ‘No Luck, All Hustle’ all represented. For each fight, there was a sizeable group emotionally invested in the result. There were very few pure spectators.

After winning his fight, dressed in his street clothes, looking younger than his age, 20 year-old boxer Chris Bautista climbed up the bleachers and quietly and respectfully shook the hands of each of the elders that came to see him. He then departed with his friends.

In other action, Sacramento junior lightweight Guy Robb, 14(6)-1, bolstered his reputation as one of the most exciting fighters in Northern California after he knocked out previously undefeated Ronell Green, 10(5)-1, in the 3^rd round. Robb made Green pay for his bad habit of bending at the waist. When Green bent over, Robb pounded the sides of his body, waiting for Green to raise his head. Green raised his head and Robb was ready with short right hand followed by a left hook that robbed Green of his consciousness.

San Jose, CA lightweight Andy Vences, 9(5)-0, defeated Cesar Martinez, 4(1)-3-2, when the ringside physician stopped the bout after the 2^nd due to cuts in Martinez’s mouth. Martinez, who was dropped once in the fight, appeared fit to fight and was visible upset by the doctor’s call. Vences has the ability to fight as a pure boxer, but he loves to exchange. His identity as a pro has yet to be established.

Los Angeles featherweight Manny Robles, Jr., 6(2)-0, boxed with the poise and technique one would expect from a boxer with a father who trains elite amateurs. Mexico’s Sergio Najera, 8-15-2, gave Robles multiple looks and was slippery enough to force Robles to work hard in earning a 60-54 unanimous decision.

Vacaville, CA cruiserweight Ryan Bourland went to 4(3)-0 after stopping San Francisco’s Philip Smith, 0-1, in the 2^nd round. There are plenty of professional boxing matches that are mismatches or that are fought at a basic level, but rarely do you see a fight where you immediately know that one of the boxers has no business being in the ring and your concern turns from reporting on the action to concern for the participant’s health and safety. This was such a fight. Philip Smith has no business being in a ring. The referee thankfully stopped the action in the 2^nd, not because any particular punch rendered Smith helpless, but because he was helpless and in danger of being seriously injured by Ryan Bourland, a professional boxer.

Middleweight Maurico Zavaleta, 1-2, lost to William Walters, 2-3, in a fight Zavaleta was well in control after the ringside physician stopped the fight due to a cut in his mouth.

Junior middleweights Joe Siapano, 0-1-1, and Jesus Sanchez, 1-0-1, fought to a majority draw in a rematch of their professional debuts.

Chris Bautista, 3-0, earned a four round unanimous decision over Percy Peterson, 0-4-1, who didn’t appear interested in engaging after suffering a bruising and competitive defeat just three weeks before.

All in all, if you knew nothing else, walking into arena that night, you would think boxing was doing just fine.

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Joel Stern

Thomas Hauser’s Literary Notes: Johnny Greaves Tells a Sad Tale

Published

6 hours ago

May 11, 2025

Thomas Hauser

Johnny Greaves was a professional loser. He had one hundred professional fights between 2007 and 2013, lost 96 of them, scored one knockout, and was stopped short of the distance twelve times. There was no subtlety in how his role was explained to him: “Look, Johnny; professional boxing works two ways. You’re either a ticket-seller and make money for the promoter, in which case you get to win fights. If you don’t sell tickets but can look after yourself a bit, you become an opponent and you fight to lose.”

By losing, he could make upwards of one thousand pounds for a night‘s work.

Greaves grew up with an alcoholic father who beat his children and wife. Johnny learned how to survive the beatings, which is what his career as a fighter would become. He was a scared, angry, often violent child who was expelled from school and found solace in alcohol and drugs.

The fighters Greaves lost to in the pros ran the gamut from inept local favorites to future champions Liam Walsh, Anthony Crolla, Lee Selby, Gavin Rees, and Jack Catterall. Alcohol and drugs remained constants in his life. He fought after drinking, smoking weed, and snorting cocaine on the night before – and sometimes on the day of – a fight. On multiple occasions, he came close to committing suicide. His goal in boxing ultimately became to have one hundred professional fights.

On rare occasions, two professional losers – “journeymen,” they’re called in The UK – are matched against each other. That was how Greaves got three of the four wins on his ledger. On September 29, 2013, he fought the one hundredth and final fight of his career against Dan Carr in London’s famed York Hall. Carr had a 2-42-2 ring record and would finish his career with three wins in ninety outings. Greaves-Carr was a fight that Johnny could win. He emerged triumphant on a four-round decision.

The Johnny Greaves Story, told by Greaves with the help of Adam Darke (Pitch Publishing) tells the whole sordid tale. Some of Greaves’s thoughts follow:

* “We all knew why we were there, and it wasn’t to win. The home fighters were the guys who had sold all the tickets and were deemed to have some talent. We were the scum. We knew our role. Give some young prospect a bit of a workout, keep out of the way of any big shots, lose on points but take home a wedge of cash, and fight again next week.”

* “If you fought too hard and won, then you wouldn’t get booked for any more shows. If you swung for the trees and got cut or knocked out, then you couldn’t fight for another 28 days. So what were you supposed to do? The answer was to LOOK like you were trying to win but be clever in the process. Slip and move, feint, throw little shots that were rangefinders, hold on, waste time. There was an art to this game, and I was quickly learning what a cynical business it was.”

* “The unknown for the journeyman was always how good your opponent might be. He could be a future world champion. Or he might be some hyped-up nightclub bouncer with a big following who was making lots of money for the promoter.”

* “No matter how well I fought, I wasn’t going to be getting any decisions. These fights weren’t scored fairly. The referees and judges understood who the paymasters were and they played the game. What was the point of having a go and being the best version of you if nobody was going to recognize or reward it?”

* “When I first stepped into the professional arena, I believed I was tough. believed that nobody could stop me. But fight by fight, those ideas were being challenged and broken down. Once you know that you can be hurt, dropped and knocked out, you’re never quite the same fighter.”

* “I had started off with a dream, an idea of what boxing was and what it would do for me. It was going to be a place where I could prove my toughness. A place that I could escape to and be someone else for a while. For a while, boxing was that place. But it wore me down to the point that I stopped caring. I’d grown sick and tired of it all. I wished that I could feel pride at what I’d achieved. But most of the time, I just felt like a loser.”

* “The fights were getting much more difficult, the damage to my body and my psyche taking longer and longer to repair after each defeat. I was putting myself in more and more danger with each passing fight. I was getting hurt more often and stopped more regularly. Even with the 28-day [suspensions], I didn’t have time to heal. I was staggering from one fight to the next and picking up more injuries along the way.”

* “I was losing my toughness and resilience. When that’s all you’ve ever had, it’s a hard thing to accept. Drink and drugs had always been present in my life. But now they became a regular part of my pre-fight preparation. It helped to shut out the fear and quieted the thoughts and worries that I shouldn’t be doing this anymore.”

* “My body was broken. My hands were constantly sore with blisters and cuts. I had early arthritis in my hip and my teeth were a mess. I looked an absolute state and inside I felt worse. But I couldn’t stop fighting yet. Not before the 100.”

* “I had abused myself time after time and stood in front of better men, taking a beating when I could have been sensible and covered up. At the start, I was rarely dropped or stopped. Now it was becoming a regular part of the game. Most of the guys I was facing were a lot better than me. This was mainly about survival.”

* “Was my brain f***ed from taking too many punches? I knew it was, to be honest. I could feel my speech changing and memory going. I was mentally unwell and shouldn’t have been fighting but the promoters didn’t care. Johnny Greaves was still a good booking. Maybe an even better one now that he might get knocked out.”

* “Nobody gave a f*** about me and whether I lived or died. I didn’t care about that much either. But the thought of being humiliated, knocked out in front of all those people; that was worse than the thought of dying. The idea of being exposed for what I was – a nobody.”

* “I was a miserable bastard in real life. A depressive downbeat mouthy little f***er. Everything I’ve done has been to mask the feeling that I’m worthless. That I have no value. The drinks and the drugs just helped me to forget that for a while. I still frighten myself a lot. My thoughts scare me. Do I really want to be here for the next thirty or forty years? I don’t know. If suicide wasn’t so impactful on people around you, I would have taken that leap. I don’t enjoy life and never have.”

So . . . Any questions?

****

Steve Albert was Showtime’s blow-by-blow commentator for two decades. But his reach extended far beyond boxing.

Albert’s sojourn through professional sports began in high school when he was a ball boy for the New York Knicks. Over the years, he was behind the microphone for more than a dozen teams in eleven leagues including four NBA franchises.

Putting the length of that trajectory in perspective . . . As a ballboy, Steve handed bottles of water and towels to a Knicks back-up forward named Phil Jackson. Later, they worked together as commentators for the New Jersey Nets. Then Steve provided the soundtrack for some of Jackson’s triumphs when he won eleven NBA championships as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

It’s also a matter of record that Steve’s oldest brother, Marv, was arguably the greatest play-by-play announcer in NBA history. And brother Al enjoyed a successful career behind the microphone after playing professional hockey.

Now Steve has written a memoir titled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Broadcast Booth. Those who know him know that Steve doesn’t like to say bad things about people. And he doesn’t here. Nor does he delve into the inner workings of sports media or the sports dream machine. The book is largely a collection of lighthearted personal recollections, although there are times when the gravity of boxing forces reflection.

“Fighters were unlike any other professional athletes I had ever encountered,” Albert writes. “Many were products of incomprehensible backgrounds, fiercely tough neighborhoods, ghettos and, in some cases, jungles. Some got into the sport because they were bullied as children. For others, boxing was a means of survival. In many cases, it was an escape from a way of life that most people couldn’t even fathom.”

At one point, Steve recounts a ringside ritual that he followed when he was behind the microphone for Showtime Boxing: “I would precisely line up my trio of beverages – coffee, water, soda – on the far edge of the table closest to the ring apron. Perhaps the best advice I ever received from Ferdie [broadcast partner Ferdie Pacheco] was early on in my blow-by-blow career – ‘Always cover your coffee at ringside with an index card unless you like your coffee with cream, sugar, and blood.’”

Writing about the prelude to the infamous Holyfield-Tyson “bite fight,” Albert recalls, “I remember thinking that Tyson was going to do something unusual that night. I had this sinking feeling in my gut that he was going to pull something exceedingly out of the ordinary. His grousing about Holyfield’s head butts in the first fight added to my concern. [But] nobody could have foreseen what actually happened. Had I opened that broadcast with, ‘Folks, tonight I predict that Mike Tyson will bite off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear,’ some fellas in white coats might have approached me and said, ‘Uh, Steve, could you come with us.'”

And then there’s my favorite line in the book: “I once asked a fighter if he was happily married,” Albert recounts. “He said, ‘Yes, but my wife’s not.'”

“All I ever wanted was to be a sportscaster,” Albert says in closing. “I didn’t always get it right, but I tried to do my job with honesty and integrity. For forty-five years, calling games was my life. I think it all worked out.”

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book – The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing – will be published this month and is available for preorder at:

https://www.amazon.com/Most-Honest-Sport-Inside-Boxing/dp/1955836329

In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

Published

16 hours ago

May 11, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Argentina's-Fernando-Martinez-Wins-His-Rematch-with-Kazuto-Ioka

In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12^th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.

The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.

But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.

Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.

Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.

As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.

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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

Published

18 hours ago

May 11, 2025

David A. Avila

Emanuel-Navarrete-Survives-a-Bloody-Battle-with-Charly-Suarez-in-San-Diego

In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.

What do they feed these guys?

Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.

From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.

It was savage.

Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.

Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.

Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.

But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.

Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.

Interim IBF Lightweight Title

The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.

Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.

Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.

Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.

There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.

Muratalla was brief.

“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”

Perla Wins

Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.

Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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