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Danny McDermott Could Still Be A Contender

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Update: Contender no more. Danny graduated. He won his fight on Saturday night, via KO in the sixth, with a body shot. Took out the liver belonging to Ronnel Esparas.

Four punch combo, top to bottom, Arturo would have smiled.

“It just happened a few hours ago, and I feel like I’m dreaming,” Danny told me Saturday night. “It’s amazing, WBU World and International light welterweight champion!”

Having Manny’s guy Buboy Fernandez wrap his hands, work his corner, made it that much more special, he said.

“This was all for my boys. I wanted to show them they can do anything they want. Nothing is impossible. Anyway, it’s not about the title, WBU, WBC whatever..It’s the story I guess people care about.”

 

There are too many good people in New Jersey for it to be rightfully derided as The Armpit of America.

Yes, yes, so the brand of moron specific to that region can possess a specific blend of nacho-cheesy exterior, and speech betraying a gleeful distaste for intellectual curiosity, and an un-earned and grating tendency to possess an elevated sense of worth commensurate with the circumference of out-sized biceps, in direct counter-proportion to the underdeveloped calf muscles which lay flat with vestigial flare.

The propensity to confuse the color “tan” with “orange” and fondness for spray tans maybe makes some of their citizens deserved of snickers, but all in all, Jersey receives too much scorn per capita.

The world has known too many kind souls from that place on the map to see that parcel of land as one big town full of losers.

Please allow me to introduce you to a Jersey guy, a fighter whose charm and wit and heart leaped out at me right away. I had no way of knowing, since our relationship was so casual, how trying the life of Danny McDermott had been, how much he’d needed to employ the traits and strategies of the best prizefighters outside of the ring. And since Danny possesses immense pride, the sort that can alternately lift you up, and also spur you to not reach out when asking for help is the wisest play, I had no way of knowing the soul-piercing issues which had plagued him recently, and left him an emotional robot, lights barely flickering, really nobody home but a sad ghost. After absorbing blow after blow outside the ring, in the manner of the most ubiquitous record-padding specialist, the traveling salesman of losing who travels from town to town to do his thing, which is lose to the up and coming golden boy, McDermott’s mind is today in a far better place, and he will in fact be fighting for the WBU light welterweight title on Sept. 13. Boxing, it’s fair to say, could well be responsible for saving his sanity, and helping him keep chugging when he’d be partially excused if he sleep-walked through life, or worse yet, opted out through a slow-motion slide featuring a sad symphony of bar-stools and popping pain pills, which would probably lead to a coda of an existence that reeks of confirmed desperation, and sad summations by family and friends when the music ends.

Here is Danny’s tale, one familiar to people who know the sport intimately, and don’t succumb to the easy path to omnipresent cynicism and critique….

 

Danny McDermott, a 35-year-old New Jersey resident, came from a blue collar family which had boxing in the DNA. Dad boxed in the Marines, and when fighting was on the tube, everyone clustered around and watched. Grab the TV dinner, don’t spill on the carpet, but don’t take eyes off Tyson

Ring mags lay around the house, and while other small fries would pore over Spiderman comic books, little Mac would read from the boxing Bible. “My dad hung a heavy bag and speed bag in our backyard in New Jersey,” he tells me, “and we would learn a little here and there and workout.”

At 12, Danny picked out his profession. Prizefighter it would be. Mattingly is cool, but c’mon. Firefighters are to be admired, but fighters are to be adored, and respected at another level, OK?

Living with his aunt and uncle in North Bergen, NJ during the week, and dad on weekends, and with his mom once a month, he learned a most useful trait for boxers…to adapt. He had to, had to learn to deal when he was hit with an out-of-nowhere uppercut, the death of a beloved cousin. “In 1991, I lost my 23 year old cousin, who was like an older brother to me, from heart failure in his sleep, ” Danny says. “My brother and I found him in his room. He was a lead singer for a rock band. A few weeks after he passed away, a record producer from a big label came looking for him to talk about his band signing a record deal. It was heart-breaking. His dream had finally came true but he wasn’t there to live that dream. I realized I needed to create my dream.”

A documentary on the greatest boxers of all time pushed him to get more serious about becoming a pro fighter, rising in the ranks, and snagging a title. He went from training in dad’s backyard, to the gym. Jersey boy Arturo Gatti, a Canadian transplant, was a considerable influence on young McDermott.

“My first fight I attended was him winning his first world title against Tracy Patterson at MSG in 1995. I was actually given the hand-wraps he wore in that fight–I have them in a glass case in my home. If you were to tell me I would have been making my pro debut on his card 10 years later I may have thought you were crazy. He was from my area in New Jersey and I wanted to be as exciting as him.”

As Gatti was edging closer to the finished line, Danny kicked off his pro career. Some Jersey boys grab a guitar, try and learn how to make it sing. Danny grabbed gloves and tried to learn how to throw his fists to make ’em sting. He debuted in January 2005, far down on a card topped by a Gatti/Jesse James Leija face-off. Gatti won by KO5, and Danny beat Jason Chacon via UD4. He won three straight, and there were post-win toasts, and so much promise, and so much tavern optimism. Too many toasts? There was a draw with Ed Valdez in November 2005.

He rebounded with a win, and lost to Manny Garcia in November 2007, but was started on a solid run, momentum and confidence building when he beat Floriano Pagliara in May 2009. Then the Fates—or was it God trying him, or is there a God and if there is, why does he dispense tests in such flippant fashion?–tucked their talons into McDermott.

“I felt like life was good and only was going to get better going into the summer of 2009. I had an 8-1 professional record,” he recalls. “I was coming off the biggest victory in my career, over Pagliara. I had plans of fighting for a regional title in the near future. I had just started a family. (Danny Jr. is now five years old.) I moved into one of the best neighborhoods in New Jersey, Fort Lee. Everything seemed like it was great. I was living ‘the American Dream.’ Then, in July I was at a family BBQ down the shore when I got the phone call about Arturo, I’ll never forget it. My heart sunk. I just couldn’t believe it. I had spoken to him a few weeks before he had left for Brazil. We had planned to get our boys together to meet in the summer when he got back. Both of our sons are the same age. It sunk in when I saw the reports on TV later that day. From that point on the downward spiral began. A week later my uncle who helped raise me had a severe heart attack while at physical therapy. He held on for a few days but didn’t survive. I watched him leave us as I held his hand. It was heart-breaking, I can’t describe it. He was my baseball and football coach as a kid. He taught me toughness in sports, to get up when knocked down and come back harder the next time. He was very proud to be from North Bergen, NJ. He said you had to be tough if you’re going to say your from that neighborhood.”

Danny would need that toughness, but more so from an emotional standpoint, as the flurries of hard to hear news, following the death of his mentor, Gatti, and his uncle, did a job on his head. Punches were way easier to absorb, shrug off, than this stuff. Broken nose seemed like a hangnail compared to this stuff…

“During this time I was having some turmoil at home with my significant other. We weren’t on the same page with a lot of things. The in-laws were involved too much, typical problems for many new families, I’d say.”

McDermott lost back to back fights, against Brian Miller (SD8) and Osnel Charles (UD6). It’s fair to say that the home front was not helping him gain the focus needed to train right, and be ready to rock on fight night. “I needed an escape and thought taking this fight against Miller was it,” he continues. “I was depressed after that. I didn’t care that people had said it was a great fight and I looked great. I lost. I guess I felt a bit better months later when some of the local writers voted it the 2010 New Jersey Fight of the Year.”

A second son, Kain, born to the missus provided a bump, but the dynamic at home was subpar. Moving in with her parents, in order to ‘save money to buy a house’ proved counterproductive.

“Things were so bad that I had made a terrible choice to use prescription pain killers after work so I could deal with (the atmosphere at home). Months later things got so bad that I had moved out. I refused to fight and argue in front of my babies. I had no idea were I was going to go. I didn’t tell my aunt, father or mother because I didn’t want them to worry or to get involved. I slept in the park a few nights until I spoke to my step-brother who let me live with him in the Bronx. I stayed there for four months. It was during this time that I took the fight with Osnel Charles. I was in no way ready for this fight. I was 165 a week before the fight which was contracted for 143 pounds.”

Fighting with the mother of his kids, feuding with a co-promoter, this is the sort of stuff that many of us fightwriters don’t know about when we analyze a fight, and focus solely on technique, and such. Being right mentally is maybe as key as being physically ready, right? Perhaps more, because you can be body beautiful but have a hidden head full of fear, doubt and insecurity.

“So now I was 8-3,” says the hitter, who will glove up at his new boxing ‘home away from home,’ the Philippines, in General Santos City on Sept. 13. “To make ends meet I was working as a day laborer, riding on the back of a pick up truck with immigrants. I couldn’t find work. The friends that were around when I was up and coming were nowhere to be found.” Another hard lesson learned for those that see their bandwagon get crowded with new friends who want to be in the mix when the parties getting cooking, but blow off cleanup duty. Who’s left picking soggy cigarette butts off the beer-soaked, butt-stained carpet?

“A few moths later my Aunt Maureen went in for minor surgery and never left the hospital. Her kidneys failed. I again watched another loved one take her last breath in front of me. This woman was my mom. She was there at every moment for me, supported me, loved me, raised me. At the time of her death we weren’t talking to each other for about month. We had gotten into an argument. Mind you she didn’t know about the problems I was having. She didn’t know about me living in the Bronx. So that was added sadness. I felt like a jerk after she died. I can totally value the lesson of never holding a grudge. We had a stupid little argument. Her birthday was the week after she had died—before she went in to the hospital I had planned to bring my kids over and surprise her and make up with her. I never got to do it.” More swift and severe combos whacked McDermott. Someone up there don’t like me, he had to think.

“Later that year I found out that my father had liver cancer. My brother and I stepped up and moved in to help him try to beat it. We took him to doctors, chemo, radiation. Tried to do the right thing. It was around this time that I linked up with Tommy Gallagher and Rich Komissar. I had a fight against Bryan Abraham in my hometown in North Bergen and won. I forgot what it felt like to win.”

Around the time he lost a majority decision to Carl McNickles at the MSG Theater, underneath the Sergio Martinez-Matthew Macklin main event, the phone brought more bad news. “It was about this time I got the phone call from my brother that my mother died of an apparent heart attack,” Danny said. “I couldn’t believe it. Here we were, trying to get ready for our father to check out and mom checks out on us first. It was a little more depressing, to say the least. ”

Real-deal friend Komissar helped him get a job as a maintenance worker and doorman in NYC, and chats with boxing lifer Gallagher helped him process the anxiety and sadness some. But another defeat was added to his record, when he lost to Andre Baker in North Carolina, in September 2012. Danny says his foe was 13 pounds heavier than him, and he agreed to fight him as an exhibition. He was surprised and irked when the fight showed up on Boxrec as his fifth loss, and is fighting the W with the aid of an attorney.

Then, another loss.

“Last September 9th my father lost his battle with cancer. He died at home with me and my brother by his bedside. I got to tell him everything I wanted to and it felt good to know that he knew how much he meant to me before he died.” But all those losses, in the ring, out of the ring, so much despair and death. McDermott was in rough shape, emotionally and physically. Listless mind, inert body, an American Dreamer reduced to sleepwalker. Eyes open but always clouded by the wafting fogs of despair that would only break for spells when the boys did something or said something cute.

“So here I was in January 2013, I was a fat out of shape mess. I was tipping the scales at 195. One morning I had terrible stomach pains and I didn’t pay mind to them until I was vomiting pure blood later in the day. I figured I should go to the hospital,” he said, making me almost grin, as I noted how sometimes “toughness” can be an impediment to sensibility.

“It was 4 AM. The doctor had informed me that my appendix burst hours earlier and ‘peritonitis’ set in, which infected my liver and kidneys. This is the same infection that killed Harry Houdini. The doc told me if I hadn’t sought medical attention I would have been dead within two hours. I had to go into surgery to remove the appendix. I thought this was it. I know how surgeries go, sometimes infections spread during surgery like what happened to my aunt. I cried thinking about my two kids and how they were upset when they learned about my father’s death and how he was ‘up with the angels.’ I spoke to my boys, who are 5 and 4, before surgery and his mom had told him that daddy was in hospital with a bad stomach ache. So they were both on the phone crying and telling me I can’t go to the angels, which started to make me cry. After I hung up the phone, I said a prayer to God that I would change my life around. I will do all the things I promised myself I would do if He got me through this.”

He started out on a regimen which is prototypical for a before and after weight loss product advertisement. “I reached out to my friend, trainer Mike Rodriguez who lives in Florida and works with today’s top MMA fighters from UFC and Bellator. I asked him if I could come down and train with him for two months. He said absolutely. Mike has worked with great boxers like Agnaldo Nunez, Freddie Cadena and Archak TerMeliksetian. He’s a great strategist when it comes to the fight game. So for two months I was in the gym two or three times a day, boxing, strength and conditioning and cardio. And of course diet was key as well.”

After two straight losses, McDermott got back on the bright side with a DQ1 win over Jesar Ancajas in the Philippines. Wait…in the Philippines? How’d that come about?

“My last fight was in Manny Pacquiao’s home town in General Santos City, Philippines, thanks to my dear friend Ryan Songalia (a writer and editor who grew up in NJ and now lives in the Philippines). The fans were very receptive to me. The children in the arena surrounded me and were coming to give me hugs, chanting my name from my ring walk till the end of the fight. It was just an overall humbling experience and it was even better after I won. I’m looking forward to going back for sure and winning this world championship.”

But wait…isn’t if for one of those cheapie titles, for a subpar sanctioning bodies, the WBU. That’s what I read on Twitter, anyway…

“Everyone has an opinion,” Danny says. “Especially the non-fighter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not under the impression that this WBU world title is on the same level of a WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO. I know what this “world” title is. It’s a stepping-stone title to that next level, but in the same respect it’s a portion of the light welterweight championship of the world, even if it’s a little portion. By no means do I think people, fans or writers should discredit or take away the accomplishment any fighter achieves when winning any championship. Many great fighters have held the WBU title. Granted, it was more popular in the mid-to late 90s and early part of this century when it was in England. This particular title is special to me because it is the “WBU Light Welterweight title.” The same world title and only world title “Irish” Micky Ward won. Shoot, they made a damn movie about him winning this title. It was also held by Ricky Hatton for years. So that right there makes it very meaningful for me. Let people talk s–t, if it was good enough for these two legendary fighters, it’s good enough for me.”

McDermott offers some insight which can be useful to us all. His words spill faster, hit harder, like he’s stepping it up on the heavy bag. “I don’t care about the opinions of anyone except my two little boys at home,” he says. “That’s my motivation to do what I’m doing now. For the people to say its a s–t title, go tell Micky Ward that or Ricky Hatton or even Mark Wahlberg and the producers of the movie ‘The Fighter.’ It would also highlight me being the first North Bergen, NJ native to win a “World Championship” since James J. Braddock, which is special to me for historic reasons. Those components make this very meaningful and the fact that I’m fighting in Manny Pacquiao’s home-town, thousands of miles from US soil for the title, makes it even more special. It will feel good winning it and bringing it to the US. Which is what I plan on doing.”

We all live our own memoir. We admit to just enough personal deficiencies to keep us honest, ideally, while deflecting enough so we’re able to get out of bed, some of us. Allow me to shift from a memoir-ish POV, to an unauthorized auto-bio slant, compliments of two men who McDermott relies on to dispense tough love when he needs it. And sometimes doesn’t want it, but needs it anyway. Trainer-manager-father figure Tommy Gallagher gave me the crack on the kid. Punches weren’t pulled…

“He’s got a lot of things going for him, but he also has that Irish tough guy syndrome,” Gallagher says. “He can do thing to get noticed besides getting his head bashed in.”

Gallagher, if you don’t know, has been in the game since diapers, basically. Hooking off the jab before potty-training kicked in…

Many of his types are long past their ‘see no evil’ period regarding boxing. They’ve seen too much, seen ring deaths, seen blatant theft of money and spirit, to look the other way, and not let some earned cynicism influence them. He says some guys, cough cough, would be better off spending less time sitting on stools and being caught in the whirl of mood lighting and amber liquids and the intoxication of impending successes.

“You can be a playboy and a drunk and be a writer. You can’t be a playboy and a drunk and be a fighter,” Gallagher says. By all accounts, McDermott can’t be reduced to be labeled those things, but it can be said he’s done his time chasing tail and ale…Remember how he said he “wanted to be as exciting as” Gatti? Fast and furious, inside ring, outside ring, that’s a young man’s game and it turns you old pretty quick. “I think he’s pretty bright,” Gallagher continues. “I think he will shine somehow, something will click and he’ll get on track. He could have maybe been special as a fighter…He deserves something, but he did it looking for shortcuts. You root for guys like that, hope they make it. Yeah, he could have been a great fighter, but he wasn’t respectful to the game. He was caught up in a sparring partner mentality. He had the,’The “On the Waterfront” thing, Terry Malloy, “I coulda’ been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am – let’s face it.””

Gallagher has seen too many Terrys and Dannys toss it away. So he has a street brand way of looking at people who waste potential. “I’d rather see someone go to jail, make sure their kids get fed, rather than be drunk on the street, or whatever. Anyway, I think it’ll happen for him, somehow, and I’ll be rooting for him.”

Mentor Rich Kommissar, son of Stanley Kommisar, who co-founded the fabled Starrett City gym in East New York, Brooklyn roots for McDermott, and since he has more hair to pull out than Gallagher, has lost a few strands in exasperation.

“Danny’s had a tough life… Irish twin, brought up in Hell’s Kitchen and North Bergen by a compilation of people,” Kommisar synopsizes. “He was a good amateur, Gatti sparring partner, but life always seemed to get in his way. He seems to finally be eliminating his excuses for failure and maybe starting gutting it out emotionally. Boxing-wise, he has a tough chin, is a good puncher. Danny has been a bit lazy in his training and likes to ‘hustle’ into his own situations, which frustrates me tremendously because I love him.”

This being boxing, where maybe the most useful trait to possess, both inside and outside the ring, is the ability to adapt, McDermott has had to wrap his brain around a couple foes as he looks to Saturday. On Sunday, he posted to Facebook this update for fans and friends.

“After 2 opponents pulling out for my fight, the promoter had no choice but to scramble and get a local fighter or scrap my fight,” he wrote. “So Ronnel Esparas 10-14 will be my opponent. Despite his record, Esparas, a crafty southpaw was a Filipino amateur standout who built up a pro record of 6-1 before going on a roller coaster of a career. He was also a sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao. I wish he looked better on paper to silence the critics that no doubt will come at me win or lose but it’s out of my hands at this point. I’m just coming to win my titles, and journeymen that have nothing to lose like Esparas are dangerous fighters. I’m expecting a tough fight regardless of his record.”

Kid knows tough fights…He has the ability, those close to him maintain, to succeed and it seems like the maturity has kicked in so that chapters yet to be written will feature a more upbeat tone. And doesn’t he deserve, if nothing else, the chance to have the last words here?

“Boxing HAS given me a reason to live, if I can tell my kids to shoot for their dreams, that they can be whoever they want to be in life, I want it to ring true,” McDermott says, indicating that he sees the door is open, and understands that the ride ain’t free. “If Daddy can do it, so can you. Nothing is impossible.”

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Greg Haugen (1960-2025) was Tougher than the Toughest Tijuana Taxi Driver

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Many years ago, this reporter overhead ring announcer Chuck Hull gushing over a young boxer who was fairly new to the professional game. “This kid,” he said, referencing Greg Haugen, “is another Gene Fullmer.”

Hull, who would be inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, was very familiar with Fullmer, a boxer he greatly admired. The ring announcer had worked two of Fullmer’s title fights, Gene’s 15-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson in March of 1961 and his 10th-round stoppage of Benny “Kid” Paret later that year.

There was a stylistic similarity between Haugen and Fullmer, but the comparison went beyond that. When the cognoscenti in New York got their first look at Gene Fullmer, they dismissed him as just another good club fighter. It was preposterous to think that one day he would defeat the great Sugar Ray Robinson, and never mind that Sugar Ray’s best days were behind him. (Fullmer and Robinson fought three times. The middle fight was a 15-round draw. Robinson won the first encounter with a vicious one-punch knockout.)

Likewise, even after recording three consecutive upsets in 10-rounders at the Showboat in Las Vegas, Greg Haugen was considered nothing more than a good club fighter. He had a wealth of grit, one could see, but in the eyes of the so-called experts, he was too one-dimensional. It was far-fetched to think that one day he would defeat an opponent as slick as Hector Camacho, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Greg Haugen, who passed away last Saturday (Feb. 22) at age 64 in a Seattle-area hospice after a three-year battle with renal cancer, entered the pro ranks after winning Tough Man competitions in Alaska. A native of Auburn, Washington, his first documented fight was in Anchorage. Each of his first five fights was slated for 10 rounds.

Those three upsets were forged against Freddie Roach, Chris Calvin, and Charlie “White Lightning” Brown. Two more fights at the Showboat would follow preceding a date with IBF 135-pound champion Jimmy Paul at the Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion. A protégé of Emanuel Steward, Paul was a product of Detroit’s fabled Kronk Gym.

Haugen was one of the first boxers to cultivate a cult following on ESPN. This owed partly to his attractive young wife and their two daughters, adorable little girls, who appeared on camera a lot as they cheered him on from their ringside seats. That marriage was crumbling when Haugen caught up with Jimmy Paul, but Greg overcame the distraction and captured the title with a hard-earned, 15-round majority decision. According to an Associated Press report, Haugen supplemented his $50,000 purse by getting a $2,000 advance and betting on himself at 4/1 odds.

Haugen lost the title and suffered his first defeat in his first title defense, a 15-rounder with Vinny Pazienza before a rabid pro-Pazienza crowd in Providence, Rhode Island. The “Pazmanian Devil” won five of the last six rounds on all three scorecards to win a unanimous decision, but ended the battle with his face all marked-up. “Many ringside observers, including the majority of out-of-town press, had Haugen the winner,” wrote Boston Globe boxing columnist Ron Borges.

They fought twice more. Haugen recaptured the belt with a wide 15-round decision in the rematch in Atlantic City and Pazienza emerged victorious in the rubber match, winning a 10-round decision. It was a great rivalry. Aggregating the scorecards after 40 bruising rounds, Haugen nipped it 1141-1136.

Between his second and third meetings with Pazienza, Haugen was outclassed by defensive wizard Pernell Whitaker on Whitaker’s turf in Virginia, but Greg’s days as a world title-holder were not over yet.

On Feb. 23, 1991, fighting at 140 pounds, his more natural weight, Haugen became the first man to defeat Hector Camacho, scoring a split decision over the 38-0 Bronx Puerto Rican who was defending his WBO belt. The match at Caesars Palace would have ended in a draw if not for the fact that referee Carlos Padilla docked Camacho a point for refusing to touch gloves at the start of the final round.

For Haugen, a noted spoiler, it was the biggest upset of his career. In the sports books around town, Camacho was as high as a 10-1 favorite.

The rematch in Reno followed a similar tack; it was a very close fight, but Camacho won a split decision and Haugen’s third world title reign, like his first, ended in his first defense.

Haugen returned to Reno the next year where he ended the career of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, stopping the former lightweight title-holder and future Hall of Famer in the seventh frame. And then, after defeating two fourth-rate opponents, he was thrust into the fight for which he is best remembered.

Greg Haugen vs. Julio Cesar Chavez at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium wasn’t a great fight, but it was a great spectacle. The announced attendance, 132,247, broke the record set in 1926 when 120,557 jammed Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial Stadium for the first meeting between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney.

Those that were there will never forget it. Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr recalled that there were little fires up in the far reaches of the mammoth stadium where people were cooking the food they had brought. “I remember thinking that this was more of a mass celebration than just a sporting event,” reminisced Lennon Jr who compared the event to Woodstock in a conversation with Bernard Fernandez for a story that ran on these pages.

Haugen goosed the gate by saying that Chavez had built his record, reportedly 84-0, on the backs of “Tijuana taxi drivers that my mom could whip.” Chavez took it personally and, to the great jubilation of the great multitude, he punished the American before taking him out in the fifth round.

Other boxers since then, lacking Haugen’s originality, have also demeaned their opponent’s conglomeration of former opponents as a bunch of Tijuana taxi drivers. The term seems to have supplanted “tomato cans” as a term of derision. So, Greg Haugen’s legacy extends beyond what he accomplished in the ring. He left an acorn in the storehouse of American slang.

After being manhandled by Julio Cesar Chavez, Haugen sheepishly said, “They must have been very tough taxi drivers.” He would have 15 more fights before leaving the sport in 1999 with a record of 39-10-2 with 19 KOs. In retirement, he trained a few boxers but couldn’t keep at it after suffering nerve damage in his left arm working the pads with a heavyweight.

There were undoubtedly some very tough guys in the ranks of Tijuana taxi drivers, but in a conventional boxing match, Greg Haugen would have likely whipped them all. He was nowhere as great as the stupefyingly sappy post-mortem tribute that ran in a small Washington paper, but he was tough as nails.

Greg Haugen is survived by four children – two daughters and two sons — and five grandchildren. Speaking to Kevin Iole, his daughter Casandra Haugen said, “He was a good man with a huge heart. He came from nowhere and made himself into a champion, but he was always a kind-hearted man and just the best Dad.”

We here at TSS send our condolences to his loved ones. May he rest in peace.

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Nakatani, Japan’s Other Superstar, Blows Away Cuellar in the Third Frame

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WBO world bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani continued his steady advance toward a mega-fight with countryman Naoya Inoue at Ariake Arena in Tokyo tonight with a third-round stoppage of David Cuellar.

After two nondescript rounds, the 27-year-old, five-foot-eight southpaw stepped on the gas and scored two knockdowns before Canadian referee Michael Griffin waived it off. The first knockdown was the result of combination of body punches. As soon as Cuellar got to his feet, Nakatani was all over him. Another combination, this time upstairs, knocked Cuellar on his rump. Looking very discouraged, he made a half-hearted attempt to beat the count and almost made it, not that it would have mattered as he was a cooked goose. The official time was 3:04 of round three.

Nakatani (30-0, 23 KOs) was making his third title defense. He trains in LA with TSS 2024 Trainer of the Year Rudy Hernandez. It was the first pro loss for Cuellar (28-1) who hails from the Mexican city of Queretaro and was making his first start outside his native country.

Nakatani has indicated an interest in unifying the belt which potentially portends three more domestic fights as all four pieces of the 118-pound title are currently in the hands of Japanese boxers. “Bam” Rodriguez and former pound-for-pound star “Chocolatito” Gonzalez sit a division below him and may also be in his future, but the big money is in a showdown with Inoue, the undisputed 122-pound champion. That match-up, when it transpires, will be the first all-Japanese fight to arouse the interest of casual boxing fans around the world.

Other Bouts of Note

Super bantamweight Tenshin Nasukawa took a massive step up in class and was successful, scoring a unanimous 10-round decision over Jason Moloney. The scores were 98-92 and 97-93 twice.

The 26-year-old southpaw has made great gains since his embarrassing loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr on New Year’s Eve of 2018. In that match, the baby-faced Nasukawa failed to survive the opening round and left the ring crying. Heading in to that match, framed as a 3-round exhibition, Tenshin was reportedly 46-0 as a kickboxer and rated in some quarters as the best kickboxer of all time.

After only five pro fights compressed into 30 rounds, the WBA saw fit to rank Nasukawa at #2. He could have embarrassed the organization (check that; the WBA has no shame) by getting his butt kicked by Moloney, a former world title-holder, but Nasakawa (6-0, 2 KOs) rose to the occasion and scored his best win to date. A 34-year-old Aussie, Moloney declined to 27-4.

The 12-round contest between bantamweights Seiya Tsutsumi and Daigo Higa was a spirited contest that ended in a draw. The scores were 114-114 across the board.

The 29-year-old Tsutsumi (12-0-3) was making the first defense of the WBA title he won with a 12-round decision over Takuma Inoue (Naoya’s brother). Higa, also 29 and now 21-3-2, was a former WBC flyweight titlist.

Tsutsumi had an uphill battle after suffering a bad gash on his forehead from an accidental clash of heads in the fourth round. The hill got steeper after Higa put him on the canvas with a left hook in round nine. But Tsutsumi responded with a knockdown of his own in that same round and finished strong, seemingly doing enough to retain his title.

This was their second meeting. Their first encounter in October of 2020, a 10-rounder on a club show at historic Korakuen Hall, also ended in a draw.

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The Hauser Report — Riyadh Season and Sony Hall: Very Big and Very Small

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Larry Goldberg promoted his eleventh club fight card at Sony Hall in New York on February 20, continuing the Boxing Insider series that began in October 2022.

Goldberg is well thought of in boxing circles. Matchmaker Eric Bottjer notes, “Here are some words that I have not heard in connection with Larry: ‘Scam artist . . . Liar . . . Untrustworthy.’ He has a good reputation. That doesn’t equate to success on its own. But it’s good when you’re sitting down with people who might want to work with you.”

That said; the life of a small promoter is hard. Goldberg’s February 20 show is a case in point.

Six fights had been scheduled. But last-minute, chaos reigned. The New York State Athletic Commission refused to clear one fighter because of a troubling MRI. Another fighter pulled out because his father thought that his B-side opponent (who had a (6-17-3 record with 6 KOs by) was “the wrong style.” Then the mother of a third fighter tried to hold Goldberg up for an increase in her son’s purse from $1,200 to $2,000 and the fight disappeared when Larry balked at her demand.

That left three fights. And guess what? It was a surprisingly entertaining card. The fights were more competitive that most club fights. And all six fighters came to win.

Jason Castanon (1-1, 1 KO) vs. Stephen Barbee (0-2, 1 KO by) was the first bout of the evening. Neither man was particularly skilled. But they fought hard and both men had a chance to win. Castanon emerged on the long end of a 39-37, 39-37, 38-38 majority decision.

Koby Khalil Williams (4-0, 3 KOs) vs. Nicholas Isaac (5-0, 4 KOs) was next up.

Williams’s four wins had come against opponents who now have a total of 4 wins in 48 fights. Isaac’s record had been fashioned against opponents who are 9-and-49 with 24 KOs by. The bout was a significant step up for both men. The result was a spirited, six-round action fight with Isaac prevailing on all three judges’ scorecards.

Finally, Avious Griffin (16-0, 15 KOs) squared off against Jose Luis Sanchez (14-4-1, 4 KOs, 1 KO by). Griffin has built his record by fighting opponents with limited skills. Sanchez fit that profile. Both men threw non-stop punches. But Griffin’s were faster, straighter, more accurate, and harder. Sanchez was dropped three times in the early rounds (by a left hook, an overhand right, and a right uppercut). In round five, Griffin appeared to tire a bit. And Sanchez was still there. At that point, the fight devolved into an “I’ll punch you and then you punch me” affair, and it seemed possible that Avious would crumble. But he didn’t. Jose Luis had a lot of heart. He just wasn’t good enough. Griffin regrouped and ended matters on an eight-round stoppage with Sanchez still on his feet.

Avious Griffin

Avious Griffin

Watching the fights, my mind went back to a conversation I had with Ray Arcel when I began writing about boxing four decades ago.

Arcel (a Hall of Fame legend who trained scores of world champions during his years in the sweet science) told me, “Too many people don’t take pride in what they do. They do just enough to get by, maybe to hold onto their jobs, and that’s all. A fighter can’t be like that.” And Arcel went on to reminisce about a time when four-round preliminary fighters on their way to the gym would look back over their shoulder and see kids following them on the street, offering to carry their gym bag. A fighter would come home and neighborhood children would be sitting on the stoop, looking at him and saying, “Wow, he’s a fighter.”

There used to be glory at the club fight level. Being a good club fighter was an end in itself. Now, for the most part, club fights are regarded as stepping stones for prospects who face off against woefully overmatched opponents. On February 20, Larry Goldberg gave boxing fans three good club fights.

****

Two nights later, on February 22, the latest Riyadh Season fight card took place in Saudi Arabia. Seven fights of note were on the card, leading the promotion to proclaim that it was “the greatest fight card in the history of boxing.”

It wasn’t. And that was true even before Daniel Dubois and Floyd Schofield pulled out of scheduled title fights due to illness.

You don’t put “the greatest fight card ever” in a 6,000-seat arena (Venue Riyadh Season) when the 25,000-seat Kingdom Arena is next door. Moreover, fight cards are judged in large measure by the main event. And the main event here wasn’t a megafight on the order of Leonard-Hearns I or a half-dozen Muhammad Ali encounters.

That said; it was an exceptionally good card. Credit to Turki Alalshikh for putting it together. Thumbnail sketches of the fights that mattered most (in the order that they occurred) follow.

Callum Smith broke Joshua Buatsi down with a brutal body attack in the middle rounds. Both fighters were hurt as the fight went on. But Buatsi was hurt more and more often. It was a very good fight with Smith prevailing on a 119-110 (which was way out of line), 116-112, 115-113 decision.

Zhilel Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel was an entertaining slugfest with both men evincing a conspicuous lack of upper-body and head movement. After a cautious first round, Kabayel attacked. Zhang, who is 41 years old and has never been in particularly good shape, started fading in round three. Kabayel got sloppy in round four and was dropped by a straight left hand. But Agit went back on the offensive and stopped Zhang with body shots in the fifth stanza.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov was a fight that boxing purists were looking forward to. Ortiz is a puncher and wanted to engage. Madrimov didn’t. Israil kept skittering around the ring and Virgil couldn’t figure him out. Then the Energizer Bunny wore down and there were some heated exchanges. That was the fight Virgil (who began scoring big to the body) wanted. Ortiz won a 117-111, 115-113, 115-113 decision.

Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz for Adames’s WBC 160-pound belt had particular significance. Sheeraz (a 5-to-2 betting favorite) is a favorite of Turki Alalshikh who had big plans for him. The belief was that Hamzah would beat Carlos and continue to increase his profile. Meanwhile, Canelo Alvarez’s four-fight deal with Riyadh Season will begin with fights against William Scull and Terence Crawford this year. Then, the thinking went, Canelo would fight the winner of Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn on Cinco de Mayo Weekend 2026 followed by a fight against Sheeraz on next year’s Mexican Independence Day Weekend.

Adames-Sheeraz was a step-up fight for Sherraz. And he fell short of expectations.

After a cautious first round, Adames began stalking. He couldn’t get past Sheeraz’s jab. Hamzah dictated the distance between them with his jab and footwork. But Sheeraz seemed intimidated and threw few punches of consequence. It was a slow fight. Carlos didn’t silence the crowd. But Hamzah did. The judges ruled the fight a split-decision draw, which meant that Adames retained his title.

Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley was not a good fight. Floyd Scholfield (an 8-to-1 underdog) fell out as Stevenson’s opponent for medical reasons during fight week. Padley, a 30-to-1 underdog. took his place. The typical Shakur Stevenson opponent is slow without much of a punch. Padley is slow without much of a punch. Prior to being called in as a late replacement earlier in the week, he had been on the job installing solar panels. Shakur stopped him in the ninth round.

Then the heavyweights returned to center stage – Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole. Parker had been slated to challenge Daniel Dubois for Dubois’ alphabet-soup “championship” belt. But two days before the fight, Dubois pulled out after contracting a viral infection.

Large amounts of money can do wondrous things. When Larry Goldberg lost three fighters during fight week, he was left with a three-bout card. When Dubois was scratched, Turki Alalshikh simply opened his checkbook and brought in Bakole.

Martin was in Africa when he got the call and arrived in Riyadh at 2:00 AM on the day of the fight. Most of us have trouble keeping our eyes open after a trans-continental fight. Bakole had to fight Parker. Moreover, Martin weighed in at a massive 315 pounds, which clearly indicated that he wasn’t in shape (unless one considers round a shape).

Round one saw Parker biding his time while Bakole plodded slowly forward. Two minutes into the second stanza, Joseph landed a glancing right hand off the top of Martin’s head. Bakole went down. He got up. And his corner stopped the fight.

That wasn’t what fans were hoping for. But then they were treated to an exceptionally good fight.

Artur Beterbiev was an 11-to-10 favorite over Dmitry Bivol in a rematch of their October 2024 title-unification bout which Beterbiev won on a close majority-decision. This time, as before, the momentum swung back and forth. But this fight was more intensely contested than their first encounter.

Beterbiev came out hard. He couldn’t reach Bivol, who was circling away and outjabbing him. But Artur was relentless. He started landing and, by the middle rounds, was outpunching and outboxing Dmitry. Then Beterbiev (who at age forty is six years older than Bivol) tired a bit and Dmitry regained control of the contest. Both men were in good condition. Fighting desperately at the end, Artur finished stronger. But this time, the majority decision was in Bivol’s favor.

“What was different?” Dmitry was asked after the fight.

“Just me,” BivoI answered. “I was better.”

****

And a note from the past . . .

In 2004, Tom Gerbasi (who was writing for Maxboxing.com at the time) went to the PAL Gym in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, to record a video interview with Bernard Hopkins while Bernard was training to fight Oscar De La Hoya.

“Hopkins wanted to do the interview while he was getting his hands wrapped,” Gerbasi recalls. “But there was a problem. My camera guy wasn’t there. Hopkins is telling me, ‘Look! I gotta do this now because I have to get my workout in.’ So I interviewed him for twenty minutes while Bouie Fisher was wrapping his hands without my camera guy there. Then Hopkins sparred and went through the rest of his workout. He’s done for the day and getting ready to leave the gym. And finally, my camera guy shows up. He’s very apologetic. He tells us he’s late because he was pulled over by the police and handcuffed because of a bunch of unpaid traffic tickets, which I assume were moving violations. Bernard says, ‘Show me your wrists.’ So my guy shows Bernard his wrists. There were marks from the handcuffs all over them. And Bernard tells us, ‘Okay. Set up the camera.” I did the interview all over again and wound up writing a four-part piece, ten thousand words.”

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

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

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