Lou Dibella Playing It Safe With Jermain Taylor

Published

10 years ago

October 6, 2014

There are, of course, promoters, managers and trainers who regard the declining fighters with whom they are sometimes associated as nothing more than meal tickets, a means of squeezing out another paycheck or two before the fast-emptying well from which they are drawing runs totally dry.

Lou DiBella, the former HBO Sports senior vice president-turned-boxing-promoter, can never be lumped with those who deservedly fall into the category of the uncaring. If anything, he cares too deeply, assuming almost a parental-type responsibility for the health and welfare of his fighters.

This is the guy who, while with HBO, summarily rejected a proposal to pair Roy Jones Jr., then still at the top of his game, with the remains of the once-great Thomas Hearns, which would have been a mismatch of epic proportions, the potential for high ratings be damned. There are other examples, if you study DiBella’s history closely enough, of his walking away from marketable fighters whom he perceived as entering a danger zone – and, admittedly, every fighter lives in a world of risk – that simply had become excessively dangerous.

All of which makes DiBella’s renewed participation as the promoter of former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (32-4-1, 20 KOs) — who challenges IBF 160-pound titlist Sam “King” Soliman (44-11, 18 KOs) in the ESPN-televised main event Wednesday night at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss. – especially curious. DiBella will be promoting this, the fourth fight in five outings on the 36-year-old Taylor’s comeback tour, but he’s remembered as the same concerned individual who cut ties with Taylor after the Little Rock, Ark., native was stopped with less than 10 seconds remaining in the 12^th round of his Super Six Boxing Classic bout with Arthur Abraham on Oct. 17, 2009, in Berlin, Germany. It marked Taylor’s fourth loss in a five-fight stretch, three coming inside the distance. Taylor was hospitalized with a concussion and short-term memory loss, a set of circumstances which prompted DiBella to voluntarily remove himself from the equation.

“To me, a lot of these fights go beyond just not being attractive,” he announced in January 2010, when it became evident Taylor would continue his career with or without DiBella’s participation. “They go into the realm of dangerous. And by the way, I think I’m entitled to say that because I have put my money where my mouth is. I’m not coming at it as a hypocrite. I’m not trying to sell (fans) a death match.”

DiBella hasn’t changed; he remains a staunch advocate for staging competitive bouts involving fighters who have not started down the slippery slope that, should they stay too long at the fair, sometimes results in slurred speech and irreversible brain damage. But Jermain Taylor has been given a clean bill of health by neurological experts at two highly reputable hospitals, as well as being licensed by boxing commissions in Nevada and California. That’s a pile of evidence that suggests that denying the man known as “Bad Intentions” a means to make a living at what he knows best would be as wrong as throwing an obviously damaged fighter into a veritable wolf pit.

Then there is the matter of this latest title shot for Taylor, who is not being asked to jump into deep, shark-infested waters with an anchor tied around one foot and a cement block around the other. Soliman is a good fighter, to be sure, but he turns 41 on Nov. 13, he’s lost 11 times and his knockout percentage suggests that, well, he isn’t exactly a puncher on a par with WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) or WBO champ Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs), either of whom would pose a far more substantial threat to Taylor’s face and internal organs than the Aussie. The guess here is that DiBella, being DiBella, would never consent to pairing Taylor with as devastating a knockout artist as Golovkin in a unification bout should JT reclaim a share of the middleweight throne by getting past Soliman.

“I’ve been with Jermain Taylor since he was a kid,” noted DiBella, taking care not to give away too much of his future plans for this latest stage of Taylor’s career. “We go way, way back, through a lot of stuff. I care deeply about the guy. But I didn’t want Jermain to be licensed and fight King Kong. I believed that if I was involved, along with Al (Taylor’s adviser, Al Haymon), we offered a checks-and-balances system for Jermain, even though he had been given a clean bill of health. We didn’t want to see him thrown in with a really tenacious puncher.

“If you look at Jermain’s record on this comeback, he’s had four fights. I promoted his fights with Jessie Nicklow, Caleb Truax and Raul Munoz. His last one (a seventh-round stoppage of Juan Carlos Candelo, on Dec. 14, 2013, was promoted by Golden Boy), wasn’t our show, but this one (a co-promotion with Warriors Boxing, in association with Soliman Stanley Promotions) is. You have to remember he’s fighting a 42-year-old man (sic) with no punching power for a world title.

“I am not going to sit here and defend my record on health and safety. Jermain was going to fight anyway, OK? In my heart I firmly believe that he has been safer on this comeback because I got involved again. People also want to dump on Al, but he got this kid a shot at a world title against an old guy who isn’t exactly King Kong.”

So Jermain Taylor, part of DiBella’s big haul of talented prospects following the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is back on that high wire, albeit with a fairly wide safety net under him. Can he reclaim at least a portion of his past glories? It’s not unreasonable to believe it’s a possibility. He does, after all, have a penchant for faring well against old guys with moderate power, having twice defeated future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins on close decisions. Taylor remains the only man ever to have twice put smudges on Hopkins’ record.

Despite the slump that rendered Taylor as almost an afterthought in the boxing community, DiBella correctly notes that there is a marked difference between being on the wrong end of a quick, emphatic knockout as opposed to a sustained beatdown, the kind that can swiftly suck the prime right out even the most gifted of fighters. Taylor has been kayoed, but his losses inside the distance – to Kelly Pavlik, Carl Froch and Abraham – were more of the lightning-strike variety.

“Jermain took some time off from boxing (after the loss to Abraham in the Super Six, from which he then withdrew),” DiBella noted. “He then went to the neurological units at both the Cleveland and Mayo Clinics. He probably underwent more extensive testing than any fighter in recent years, and he was cleared by both hospitals to continue fighting.

“After those tests, he gave me permission to speak to the doctor directly. I asked the doctor, `If Jermain were your son, would you let him fight?’ The doctor said, `Well, you’re not asking me the right question. I wouldn’t let my son fight, period, because it’s an inherently dangerous sport. But if you’re asking me, based upon a completely sophisticated and extensive battery of tests whether I believe Jermain is at greater risk than any other fighter, I don’t believe he is.’”

Perhaps remembering the incredible success Main Events had in procuring high-potential fighters from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker, Meldrick Taylor, Mark Breland, Virgil Hill and Tyrell Biggs), DiBella signed JT, a bronze medalist, as part of the 2000 Olympic class that included Americans Ricardo Williams Jr. (the junior welterweight silver medal), Clarence Vinson (bantamweight bronze medalist), heavyweight Michael Bennett and flyweight Jose Navarro, as well as Paolo Vidoz (the super heavyweight bronze medalist from Italy) and middleweight Jerson Ravelo (Dominican Republic). Williams was pegged as the most likely candidate for superstardom from that group, but he flamed out, as did most of the others, leaving Taylor as the fastest riser and foremost hope for sustained success for DiBella’s fledgling company. Along the way, DiBella and his protégé became as tight as it ever gets between promoter and fighter, making Taylor’s plummet from elite status a matter of personal as well as professional concern for Sweet Lou.

Now we are here again, with Taylor toting not only the baggage of what occurred inside the ropes during that 1-4 descent, but also from an incident at Taylor’s suburban Little Rock home on Aug. 27, in which the boxer shot his cousin, Tyrone Hinton, “multiple times,” according to the police report. Taylor was charged with two felonies, domestic battery and aggravated assault. He entered a plea of non-guilty and subsequently was freed on $25,000 bond and granted permission by District Judge Wayne Gruber to travel out of state for the title bout with Solomon.

Given the spate of NFL-related news of suspensions handed out to star players for domestic violence against wives/girlfriends and children, it might appear that Taylor has been given something of a pass due to his celebrity status in his home state. The situation no doubt will at least be mentioned during the ESPN telecast. But DiBella said there is more to the story than what appears at first glance, which will come to light when the case finally goes before a court of law.

“Did I have concerns? Yes,” he said. “But I made some phone calls. The judge set a very low bail, and he made it clear Jermain was free to go ahead with this fight. There is such a thing in this country as innocent until proven guilty.”

The ring is not a court of law, but certain truths are always revealed on fight night. It will be interesting to see which verdict is rendered when Jermain Taylor states his case against Soliman.

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Bernard Fernandez

The Challenge of Playing Muhammad Ali

Published

7 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Thomas Hauser

There have been countless dramatizations of Muhammad Ali’s life and more will follow in the years ahead. The most heavily marketed of these so far have been the 1977 movie titled The Greatest starring Ali himself and the 2001 biopic Ali starring Will Smith.

The Greatest was fictionalized. Its saving grace apart from Ali’s presence on screen was the song “The Greatest Love of All” which was written for the film and later popularized by Whitney Houston. Beyond that, the movie was mediocre. “Of all our sports heroes,” Frank Deford wrote, “Ali needs least to be sanitized. But The Greatest is just a big vapid valentine. It took a dive.”

The 2001 film was equally bland but without the saving grace of Ali on camera. “I hated that film,” Spike Lee said. “It wasn’t Ali.” Jerry Izenberg was in accord, complaining, “Will Smith playing Ali was an impersonation, not a performance.”

The latest entry in the Ali registry is a play running this week off-Broadway at the AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street) in Manhattan.

The One: The Life of Muhammad Ali was written by David Serero, who has produced and directed the show in addition to playing the role of Angelo Dundee in the three-man drama. Serero, age 43, was born in Paris, is of Moroccan-French-Jewish heritage, and has excelled professionally as an opera singer (baritone) and actor (stage and screen).

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. The play is flawed. There are glaring factual inaccuracies in the script that add nothing to the dramatic arc and detract from its credibility.

On the plus side; Zack Bazile (pictured) is exceptionally good as Ali. And Serero (wearing his director’s hat) brings the most out of him.

Growing up, Bazile (now 28) excelled in multiple sports. In 2018, while attending Ohio State, he won the NCAA Long Jump Championship and was named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year. He also dabbled in boxing, competed in two amateur fights in 2022, and won both by knockout. He began acting three years ago.

Serero received roughly one thousand resumes when he published notices for a casting call in search of an actor to play Ali. One-hundred-twenty respondents were invited to audition.

“I had people who looked like Ali and were accomplished actors,” Serero recalls. “But when they were in the room, I didn’t feel Ali in front of me. You have to remember; we’re dealing with someone who really existed and there’s video of him, so it’s not like asking someone to play George Washington.”

And Ali was Ali. That’s a hard act to follow.

Bazile is a near-perfect fit. At 6-feet-2-inches tall, 195 pounds, he conveys Ali’s physicality. His body is sculpted in the manner of the young Ali. He moves like an athlete because he is an athlete. His face resembles Ali’s and his expressions are very much on the mark in the way he transmits emotion to the audience. He uses his voice the way Ali did. He moves his eyes the way Ali did. He has THE LOOK.

Zack was born the year that Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta, so he has no first-hand memory of the young Ali who set the world ablaze. “But as an actor,” he says, “I’m representing Ali. That’s a responsibility I take very seriously. Everyone has an essence about them. I had to find the right balance – not too over the top – and capture that.”

Sitting in the audience watching Bazile, I felt at times as though it was Ali onstage in front of me. Zack has the pre-exile Ali down perfectly. The magic dissipates a bit as the stage Ali grows older. Bazile still has to add the weight of aging to his craft. But I couldn’t help but think, “Muhammad would have loved watching Zack play him.”

****

Twenty-four hours after the premiere of The One, David Serero left the stage for a night to shine brightly in a real boxing ring., The occasion was the tenth fight card that Larry Goldberg has promoted at Sony Hall in New York, a run that began with Goldberg’s first pro show ever on October 13, 2022.

Most of the fights on the six-bout card played out as expected. But two were tougher for the favorites than anticipated. Jacob Riley Solis was held to a draw by Daniel Jefferson. And Andy Dominguez was knocked down hard by Angel Meza in round three before rallying to claim a one-point split-decision triumph.

Serero sang the national anthem between the second and third fights and stilled the crowd with a virtuoso performance. Fans at sports events are usually restless during the singing of the anthem. This time, the crowd was captivated. Serero turned a flat ritual into an inspirational moment. People were turning to each other and saying “Wow!”

****

The unexpected happened in Tijuana last Saturday night when 25-to-1 underdog Bruno Surace climbed off the canvas after a second-round knockdown to score a shocking, one-punch, sixth-round stoppage of Jaime Munguia. There has been a lot of commentary since then about what happened that night. The best explanation I’ve heard came from a fan named John who wrote, “The fight was not over in the second round although Munguia thought it was because, if he caught him once, he would naturally catch him again. Plus he looked at this little four KO guy [Surace had scored 4 knockouts in 27 fights] the way all the fans did, like he had no punch. That is what a fan can afford to do. But a fighter should know better. The ref reminds you, ‘Protect yourself at all times.’ Somebody forgot that.”

photo (c) David Serero

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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L.A.’s Rudy Hernandez is the 2024 TSS Trainer of the Year

Published

2 days ago

December 16, 2024

Arne K. Lang

L.A.’s Rudy Hernandez is the 2024 TSS Trainer of the Year

If asked to name a prominent boxing trainer who operates out of a gym in Los Angeles, the name Freddie Roach would jump immediately to mind. Best known for his work with Manny Pacquaio, Roach has been named the Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America a record seven times.

A mere seven miles from Roach’s iconic Wild Card Gym is the gym that Rudy Hernandez now calls home. Situated in the Little Tokyo neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, the L.A. Boxing Gym – a relatively new addition to the SoCal boxing landscape — is as nondescript as its name. From the outside, one would not guess that two reigning world champions, Junto Nakatani and Anthony Olascuaga, were forged there.

As Freddie Roach will be forever linked with Manny Pacquiao, so will Rudy Hernandez be linked with Nakatani. The Japanese boxer was only 15 years old when his parents packed him off to the United States to be tutored by Hernandez. With Hernandez in his corner, the lanky southpaw won titles at 112 and 115 and currently holds the WBO bantamweight (118) belt. In his last start, he knocked out his Thai opponent, a 77-fight veteran who had never been stopped, advancing his record to 29-0 (22 KOs).

Nakatani’s name now appears on several pound-for-pound lists. A match with Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue is brewing. When that match comes to fruition, it will be the grandest domestic showdown in Japanese boxing history.

“Junto Nakatani is the greatest fighter I’ve ever trained. It’s easy to work with him because even when he came to me at age 15, his focus was only on boxing. It was to be a champion one day and nothing interfered with that dream,” Hernandez told sports journalist Manouk Akopyan writing for Boxing Scene.

Akin to Nakatani, Rudy Hernandez built Anthony Olascuaga from scratch. The LA native was rucked out of obscurity in April of 2023 when Jonathan Gonzalez contracted pneumonia and was forced to withdraw from his date in Tokyo with lineal light flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji. Olascuaga, with only five pro fights under his belt, filled the breach on 10 days’ notice and although he lost (TKO by 9), he earned kudos for his gritty performance against the man recognized as the best fighter in his weight class.

Two fights later, back in Tokyo, Olascuaga copped the WBO world flyweight title with a third-round stoppage of Riku Kano. His first defense came in October, again in Japan, and Olascuaga retained his belt with a first-round stoppage of the aforementioned Gonzalez. (This bout was originally ruled a no-contest as it ended after Gonzalez suffered a cut from an accidental clash of heads. But the referee ruled that Gonzalez was fit to continue before the Puerto Rican said “no mas,” alleging his vision was impaired, and the WBO upheld a protest from the Olascuaga camp and changed the result to a TKO. Regardless, Rudy Hernandez’s fighter would have kept his title.)

Hernandez, 62, is the brother of the late Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez. A two-time world title-holder at 130 pounds who fought the likes of Azumah Nelson, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., Chicanito passed away in 2011, a cancer victim at age 45.

Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez was one of the most popular fighters in the Hispanic communities of Southern California. Rudy Hernandez, a late bloomer of sorts – at least in terms of public recognition — has kept his brother’s flame alive with own achievements. He is a worthy honoree for the 2024 Trainer of the Year.

Note: This is the first in our series of annual awards. The others will arrive sporadically over the next two weeks.

Photo credit: Steve Kim

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A Shocker in Tijuana: Bruno Surace KOs Jaime Munguia !!

Published

4 days ago

December 15, 2024

Arne K. Lang

A-Shocker-in-Tijuana-Bruno-Sarace-KOs-Jaime-Munguia

It was a chilly night in Tijuana when Jaime Munguia entered the ring for his homecoming fight with Bruno Surace. The main event of a Zanfer/Top Rank co-promotion, Munguia vs. Surace was staged in the city’s 30,000-seat soccer stadium a stone’s throw from the U.S. border in the San Diego metroplex.

Surace, a Frenchman, brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but a quick glance at his record showed that he had scant chance of holding his own with the house fighter. Only four of Surace’s 25 wins had come by stoppage and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records. Munguia was making the first start in the city of his birth since February 2022. Surace had never fought outside Europe.

But hold the phone!

After losing every round heading into the sixth, Surace scored the Upset of the Year, ending the contest with a one-punch knockout.

It looked like a short and easy night for Munguia when he knocked Surace down with a left hook in the second stanza. From that point on, the Frenchman fought off his back foot, often with back to the ropes, throwing punches only in spurts. Munguia worked the body well and was seemingly on the way to wearing him down when he was struck by lightning in the form of an overhand right.

Down went Munguia, landing on his back. He struggled to get to his feet, but the referee waived it off a nano-second before reaching “10.” The official time was 2:36 of round six.

Munguia, who was 44-1 heading in with 35 KOs, was as high as a 35/1 favorite. In his only defeat, he had gone the distance with Canelo Alvarez. This was the biggest upset by a French fighter since Rene Jacquot outpointed Donald Curry in 1989 and Jacquot had the advantage of fighting in his homeland.

Co-Main

Mexico City’s Alan Picasso, ranked #1 by the WBC at 122 pounds, scored a third-round stoppage of last-minute sub Yehison Cuello in a scheduled 10-rounder contested at featherweight. Picaso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) is a solid technician. He ended the bout with a left to the rib cage, a punch that weaved around Cuello’s elbow and didn’t appear to be especially hard. The referee stopped his count at “nine” and waived the fight off.

A 29-year-old Colombian who reportedly had been training in Tijuana, the overmatched Cuello slumped to 13-3-1.

Other Bouts of Note

In a ho-hum affair, junior middleweight Jorge Garcia advanced to 32-4 (26) with a 10-round unanimous decision over Uzbekistan’s Kudratillo Abudukakhorov (20-4). The judges had it 97-92 and 99-90 twice. There were no knockdowns, but Garcia had a point deducted in round eight for low blows.

Garcia displayed none of the power that he showed in his most recent fight three months ago in Arizona and when he knocked out his German opponent in 46 seconds. Abudukakhorov, who has competed mostly as a welterweight, came in at 158 1/4 pounds and didn’t look in the best of shape. The Uzbek was purportedly 170-10 as an amateur (4-5 per boxrec).

Super bantamweight Sebastian Hernandez improved to 18-0 (17 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Argentine import Sergio Martin (14-5). The end came at the 2:39 mark of round seven when Martin’s corner threw in the towel. Earlier in the round, Martin lost his mouthpiece and had a point deducted for holding.

Hernandez wasn’t all that impressive considering the high expectations born of his high knockout ratio, but appeared to have injured his right hand during the sixth round.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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