Emanuel Steward Protege Tony Harrison Can Still Hear Manny’s Call For KOs

Published

10 years ago

November 19, 2014

It was Oct. 25, 2012 when Emanuel Steward left us. He’d been sick, rumors abounded, but his family kept things quiet. The sad rumors turned true. A pied piper of decency and good humor was lost to us. It hit us hard, in the way it does when a special one leaves, a person who makes everyone they come in contact feel like they have a special bond with the charismatic one….

It hit middleweight prospect Tony Harrison harder than a George Foreman hook followed by an Earnie Shavers uppercut.

“He was one of the realest people I’ve ever seen, in the neighborhood, he was a Robin Hood. He’d give it to you if you needed it. He helped everybody. It was surreal when he passed. I was just with him, at camp for Wladimir Klitschko. It just seemed unreal. It didn’t hit me until I went back to Detroit. I was on a flight alone, and there was no Manny in first class. I was at the airport in Cologne (and it hit me). I cried for about three days straight. The one person who did believe in me was gone.”

The emotions didn’t subside quickly. He’d wake up, open his eyes, and a fresh batch of pain would wash over him. “It took months,” Harrison told me. “Jim Lampley helped me. I talked to him and his wife, they were friends with Emanuel. I flew there and stayed with them a couple days in California. They just helped me out, get a better outlook, in that you can lose someone, but there’s always another good person in your corner. In the end, I moved past the sorrow, and realized, ‘You gotta get back to work.’

Got to. Landlord don’t accept tears in lieu of rent check. So Harrison (18-0, with 15 KOs) looks to lay the smack down on TBA on Dec. 20, on a card topped by Jesus MA Cuellar (25-1) vs. Ruben Tamayo (25-4-2), with an interim feather belt up for grabs. After talking to the kid for an hour, I went into my calender on my phone and set a reminder to make sure I checked out his performance. He made an impression on me, as he did Steward…

***

Tony Harrison has three brothers and four sisters and he came in last place in birth order.

The Detroit-based boxer, the former Emanuel Steward protégé who signed on with Al Haymon and has the sort of rumbling style that makes him a no brainer for main event gigs in the very near future, gave me some insight into what formed his way of fighting.

“It made me tougher than I was supposed to be,” the boxer, age 24, told me in a phoner. “Everyone was experimenting on me. I was the lab rat of the family. Pro wrestling came on the TV, they’d see a move, and they couldn’t try it on each other so they’d try it on me. Figure four, all the effed up moves!” Through glass tables, tossed off rooftops, lil Tony was the indestructible rat, and he believes that experience has, yes, left a few dents in his skull, but also helped him toughen up, so the in-the-ring battles aren’t quite as taxing as they’d otherwise be.

Don’t want to make it sound like it was every man for himself over there; mom and dad, Ali and Eisha Salaam, “are still together, and that’s rare.” But Detroit, it was an adult dose, an adult portion, and you saw and see stuff that will make you question man’s inhumanity to man. Such as when utilities are cut off on people down on their luck, while the cruel capitalist crowd plays it off like it’s tough love, say that all these folks are grifters, are just trying to be sneaky takers, and actually aren’t so without options that is why they aren’t paying their gas and electric or water bill.

“I was born here, grew up here, earned and hustled here,” he told me. “Sure, often it’s about a dollar. That love of the dollar matters too much when it’s 20 degrees and you cut someones’ electricity off, it’s too much, especially in cases where you you have adults with kids.”

So, talk to me, man. Are you a future star, or what?

“Oh, you found one for sure,” he said, without an unpleasant cockiness. “And why is that? Because I have a different mentality. I’m going into the fight win lose or draw, I’m coming to entertain. It’s not must win…it’s knock you out or you knock me out. I got to feed my family, you got to feed yours. Win, lose or draw, Arturo Gatti made money. It’s about my family eating. And it’s my job to inspire people, the people that come after me.”

Love it, love, love it. Music to my ears, in this era of boxer/businessmen. Here’s a throwback who gets it, and know what, it makes that much more sense when you know this kid was under Manny Steward’s wing. Manny came across Harrison when an 18-year-old Tony fought a Kronk kid, and lost to him. Maybe he didn’t lose, but he didn’t get the decision, and after, Manny told him he liked his way, that he should keep at it.

“My thinking was, eff Kronk. They had these nice jackets. It was before I really knew who Manny was. He told me I won the fight, against a guy with like 120 fights, and I had like 30. He invited me to his house, and asked if I wanted to turn pro.” Harrison wasn’t ready for that, and it took a few years for him to come back into the Steward orbit. He was sparring some guys at the Wild Card, like Paul Malignaggi, and promoters were sniffing around. Manny saw him at the WC, told him he’d call him, he did. Harrison was thinking about trying for the Olympics, but Manny set him straight about how far our amateur program had fallen. You might not even get the decision if you win, he said. It’s hard to be a minority and win at the Olympics, he said he told him. Turn pro on a Klitschko card, he promised. He got a passport, jetted to Hamburg and the rest was history. Of course, history took a turn when Manny got sick. The sting of his loss hurts worse than a million Micky Ward liver shots…

****

He’d have maybe been a bit sharper right now if he’d gone to camp with Wlad, as he usually does, Harrison tells me; he hops in with Wlad, shows speed, helps the big guy work on cutting off the ring, but a mouth issue kept him away from Germany this time around. Harrison said he’ll be in fine form on Dec. 20, though, and will again have his dad in his corner.

And check this out…you got to love this kid’s outlook. This is how he said he approaches his fights. “I’m coming out quick, it’s kill or be killed, it’s the only motto I have, I have always stressed it. Nobody wants to see ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ as Emanuel used to say.”

Me and Harrison share a chuckle as we fondly recall Steward’s penchant for profanity. I told Tony that I often find myself Tweeting out WWMD, ‘what would Manny do,’ during Wlad fights, and Tony laughed and said he could hear, in his head, Manny saying, “Emeffer, nobody wanna see this s—t, knock this emeffer out, you losing this crowd!”

“And so that’s me, in my fights, taking risks, trying to knock this emeffer out! When I miss, you feel the wind, in the crowd they see that and say, ‘that boy trying to knock him out, that’s what it’s about.’ People love to see Mike Tyson do his thing, no matter if it’s against an alley cat.”

Signing with Haymon was good, he said, because options were presented to him, work picked up, after the deal got signed. He told me he relies on a small circle of friends, among them fight photog Suzan Classen, who is married to the son of the late fighter Willie Classen, and offers Harrison her insight on how to negotiate life’s twists and turns. “She’s my home girl, that’s my homegirl till the end of the world. We met at an open workout at a gym in Manhattan last year and stayed in touch.”

Real people, and decency, is important to Harrison. He needed to find those people when his family was evicted from their residence when he was 16. “I lost everything, my clothes, shoes, everything. And my cousin, Graham Hester, he was 24, he said, ‘Stay with us.’ He had kids, and that stayed with me. And my mom, she’d be walking to work in the snow, sub zero, and the heat was turned off in the house. That’s when I decided, no more partying, no more clubbing. I grew up faster. Then my cousin, his landlord wasn’t paying the taxes, so he had to move, and we were staying at my other cousins. So, so many people have played a big part in my life, that’s why I am who I am. Money don’t make or break me. Loyalty is worth more than a hundred million dollars. My cousin believed, and I believe, I never lost faith, I’m never giving up on God. I know everything going to be alright, and that it was time to lose the itty bitty Spidey drawers and put the big boy boxers on.”

I can hear Manny chuckle, make a crack about the drawers, and I sense that he’d like if we kept eyeballs glued on this kid, because I think Steward saw something in him, something more than boxing skills, and I think I owe that to Steward, such an asset to the sport, to comply.

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Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024

Published

8 hours ago

December 24, 2024

David A. Avila

Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024

It’s the end of the year.

Here are our awards for the best in women’s boxing. But first, a rundown on the state of the sport.

Maybe its my imagination but it seems that fewer female fights of magnitude took place in 2024 than in previous years.

A few promoters like 360 Promotions increased their involvement in women’s boxing while others such as Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions seem stagnant. They are still staging female bouts but are not signing new additions.

American-based promotion company Top Rank, actually lost 50 percent of their female fighter roster when Seniesa Estrada, the undisputed minimumweight champion, retired recently. They still have Mikaela Mayer.

A promotion company making headlines and creating sparks in the boxing world is Most Valuable Promotions led by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. They signed Amanda Serrano and have invested in staging other female fights

This year, the top streaming company Netflix gambled on sponsoring Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, along with Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor and hit a monster home run. According to Netflix metrics an estimated 74 million viewers watched the event that took place on Nov. 16 at Arlington, Texas.

“Breaking records like this is exactly what MVP was built to do – bring the biggest, most electrifying events to fans worldwide,” said Nakisa Bidarian co-founder of MVP.

History was made in viewership and at the gate where more than 70,000 fans packed AT&T Stadium for a record-setting $17.8 million in ticket sales outside of Las Vegas. It was the grand finale moment of the year.

Here are the major contributors to women’s boxing in 2024.

Fighter of the Year: Amanda Serrano

Other candidates: Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Franchon Crews, Dina Thorslund, and Yesica Nery Plata.

Amanda Serrano was chosen for not only taking part in the most viewed female title fight in history, but also for willingly sacrificing the health of her eye after suffering a massive cut during her brutal war with Taylor. She could have quit, walked away with tons of money and be given the technical decision after four rounds. She was ahead on the scorecards at that moment.

Instead, Serrano took more punches, more head butts and slugged her way through 10 magnificent and brilliant rounds against the great Taylor. Fans worldwide were captivated by their performance. Many women who had never watched a female fight were mesmerized and inspired.

Serrano once again proved that she would die in the ring rather than quit. Women and men were awed by her performance and grit. It was a moment blazed in the memories of millions.

Amanda Serrano is the Fighter of the Year.

Best Fight of the Year – Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor 2

Their first fight that took place two years ago in Madison Square Garden was the greatest female fight I had ever witnessed. The second fight surpassed it.

When you have two of the best warriors in the world willing to showcase their talent for entertainment regardless of the outcome, it’s like rubbing two sticks of dynamite together.

Serrano jumped on Taylor immediately and for about 20 seconds it looked like the Irish fighter would not make the end of the first round. Not quite. Taylor rallied behind her stubborn determination and pulled out every tool in her possession: elbows, head butts, low blows, whatever was needed to survive, Taylor used.

It reminded me of an old world title fight in 2005 between Jose Luis Castillo a master of fighting dirty and Julio Diaz. I asked about the dirty tactics by Castillo and Diaz simply said, “It’s a fight. It’s not chess. You do what you have to do.”

Taylor did what she had to do to win and the world saw a magnificent fight.

Other candidates: Seniesa Estrada versus Yokasta Valle, Mikaela Mayer versus Sandy Ryan, and Ginny Fuchs vs Adelaida Ruiz.

KO of the Year – Lauren Price KO3 Bexcy Mateus.

Dec. 14, in Liverpool, England.

The IBO welterweight titlist lowered the boom on Bexcy Mateus sending her to the floor thrice. She ended the fight with a one-two combination that left Mateus frozen while standing along the ropes. Another left cross rocket blasted her to the ground. Devastating.

Other candidates: Claressa Shields KO of Vanessa LePage-Joanisse, Gabriela Fundora KO of Gabriela Alaniz, Dina Thorslund vs Mary Romero, Amanda Serrano KO of Stevie Morgan.

Pro’s Pro Award – Jessica Camara

Jessica Camara defeated Hyun Mi Choi in South Korea to win the WBA gold title on April 27, 2024. The match took place in Suwon where Canada’s Camara defeated Choi by split decision after 10 rounds.

Camara, who is managed by Brian Cohen, has fought numerous champions including Kali Reis, Heather Hardy and Melissa St. Vil. She has become a pro fighter that you know will be involved in a good and entertaining fight and is always in search of elite competition. She eagerly accepted the fight in South Korea against Choi. Few fighters are willing to do that.

Next up for Camara is WBC titlist Caroline Dubois set for Jan. 11, in Sheffield, England.

Electric Fighters Club

These are women who never fail to provide excitement and drama when they step in the prize ring. When you only have two-minute rounds there’s no time to run around the boxing ring.

Here are some of the fighters that take advantage of every second and they do it with skill:

Gabriela Fundora, Mizuki Hiruta, Ellie Scotney, Lauren Price, Clara Lescurat, Adelaida Ruiz, Ginny Fuchs, Mikaela Mayer, Yokasta Valle, Sandy Ryan, Chantelle Cameron, Ebanie Bridges, Tsunami Tenkai, Dina Thorslund, Evelin Bermudez, Gabriela Alaniz, Caroline Dubois, Beatriz Ferreira, and LeAnna Cruz.

Claressa Shields Movie and More

A motion picture based on Claressa Shields titled “The Fire Inside” debuts on Wednesday, Dec. 25, nationwide. Most boxing fans know that Shields has world titles in various weight divisions. But they don’t know about her childhood and how she rose to fame.

Also, Shields (15-0, 3 KOs) will be fighting Danielle Perkins (5-0, 2 KOs) for the undisputed heavyweight world championship on Sunday Feb. 2, at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. DAZN will stream the Salita Promotions fight card.

“Claressa Shields is shining a spotlight on Flint – first on the big screen and then in the ring on Sunday, February 2,” said event promoter Dmitriy Salita, president of Salita Promotions. “Claressa leads by example. She is a trailblazer and has been an advocate for equality since she was a young lady. This event promises to be one of the most significant sporting and cultural events of the year. You don’t want to miss it, either live, in person or live on DAZN.”

Shields is only 29 years old and turns 30 next March. What more can she accomplish?

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Lucas Bahdi Forged the TSS 2024 Knockout of the Year

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Lucas-Bahdi-Forged-he-RSS-2024-Knockout-of-the-Year

A Knockout of the Year doesn’t have to be a one-punch knockout, but it must arrive with the suddenness of a thunderclap on a clear day and the punch or punches must be so harsh as to obviate the need for a “10-count.” And, if rendered by an underdog, that makes the KO resonate more loudly.

Within these parameters, Lucas Bahdi’s knockout of Ashton “H2O” Sylva still jumped off the page. The thunderclap happened on July 20 in Tampa, Florida, on a show promoted by Jake Paul with Paul and the great Amanda Serrano sharing the bill against soft opponents in the featured bouts.

The 30-year-old Bahdi (16-0, 14 KOs) and the 20-year-old Sylva (11-0, 9 KOs) were both undefeated, but Bahdi was accorded scant chance of defeating Jake Paul’s house fighter.

Sylva was 18 years old and had seven pro fights under his belt, winning all inside the distance, when he signed with Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, in 2022. “We believe that Ashton has that talent, that flashiness, that style, that knockout power, that charisma to really be a massive, massive, superstar…” said the “Problem Child” when announcing that Sylva had signed with his company.

Jake Paul was so confident that his protege would accomplish big things that he matched Sylva with Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield. Currently 18-0 and ranked #2 by the WBA, Schofield was further along than Sylva in the pantheon of hot lightweight prospects. But Schofield backed out, alleging an injury, opening the door to a substitute.

Enter Lucas Bahdi who despite his eye-catching record was a virtual unknown. This would be his first outing on U.S. soil. All of his previous bouts were staged in Mexico or in Canada, mostly in his native Ontario province. “My opponent may have changed,” said Sylva who hails from Long Beach, California, “but the result will be the same, I will get the W and continue my path to greatness.”

The first five rounds were all Sylva. The Canadian had no antidote for Sylva’s speed and quickness. He was outclassed.

Then, in round six, it all came unglued for the precocious California. Out of the blue, Bahdi stiffened him with a hard right hand. Another right quickly followed, knocking Sylva unconscious. A third punch, a sweeping left, was superfluous. Jake Paul’s phenom was already out cold.

Sylva landed face-first on the canvas. He lay still as his handlers and medics rushed to his aid. It was scarifying. “May God restore him,” said ring announcer Joe Martinez as he was being stretchered out of the ring.

The good news is that Ashton “H2O” Silva will be able to resume his career. He is expected back in the ring as early as February. As for Lucas Bahdi, architect of the Knockout of the Year, he has added one more win to his ledger, winning a 10-round decision on the undercard of the Paul vs Tyson spectacle, and we will presumably be hearing a lot more about him.

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Published

3 days ago

December 21, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10^th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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