Asia & Oceania
Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo Are Forever Linked by Their Great Rivalry
DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT TAMAS PRADARICS — Rivalries always make boxing more popular. They help the sport borrow the attention of general sport fans who normally do not follow fist-fighting.
Rivalries sometimes outlast complete generations of fight fans. Fathers tell tales about them to sons and the lineality flows on.
There are celebrated ones. Everybody remembers the Ali-Frazier trilogy. Old timers remember Robinson-LaMotta, Pep-Angott, McLarnin-Ross. Younger fans of the sport had the chance to witness the rivalries between Barrera-Morales and Marquez-Vazquez.
There are also forgotten ones, like the rivalry between Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo. Casual fans do not really remember the three fearsome battles these two bantamweight greats fought with their heavy and willing fists.
They should.
On April 18, 1970 Olivares and Castillo fought for the first time. That was 47 years ago this month.
Both Castillo and Olivares learned their craft in the smoky gyms of Mexico City, building respectable records against tough local opponents until the watchful eyes of promoters caught them and brought them to the Los Angeles area.
Jesus ”Chucho” Castillo turned pro at the age of 17 in 1962. He won only 21 of his first 27 fights, losing four inside the distance because of severe cuts suffered by gloves or heads. He shifted gears in the summer of 1966 with a third round demolition of tough gatekeeper Edmundo Esparza.
Ten more straight wins, some of them against top rated bantamweights like Waldemiro Pinto (#6 by The Ring at bantamweight), Joe Medel (#7) and Bernardo Caraballo (#5), led Chucho to an elimination bout at 118 pounds against fellow Mexican Jesus Pimentel (#1).
It was time for Castillo to travel to the US to perform for the first time. The location turned out to be The Forum in Inglewood, California, the venue that was then home for most of the big bouts on the West Coast along with the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Chuchu defeated Pimentel, winning a 12-round unanimous decision.
The newly built Forum was owned by Canadian entrepreneur Jack Kent Cooke. George Parnassus was the venue’s boxing promoter. Parnassus was born in Greece in 1897 and arrived to the United States at age 18. First he ran a restaurant in Pheonix, Arizona, then became the manager of one of his regular guests there, featherweight contender Kid Carter. In California, Parnassus became known for making the biggest fights and making them at the right time.
Ruben Olivares turned pro in January 1965 with a first round knockout win over fellow debutant Isidro Sotelo. That was a prologue that paved the road for young Olivares’s future reputation.
Ruben made quick work of his opponents in 33 of his first 35 bouts before he faced his stiffest test in #7 ranked bantamweight Salvatore Burruni in late March, 1968.
The undefeated prospect severely battered Burruni, a former flyweight champion. Oliveras was credited with a TKO when Burruni turned his back on him in the third round.
Five months later, after stopping #2 rated flyweight Octavio Gomez, Olivares had his own US debut at the Forum against journeyman Bernabe Fernandez. Chuchu Castillo was also on that card. They shared the bill with Australian Lionel Rose, who happened to be the reigning world champion at 118 pounds. Like Olivares, the Aussie was making his U.S. debut.
Parnassus matched Rose against tough Joe Medel whom Lionel beat on points in ten frames. Castillo dispatched Evan Armstrong in the second round. Olivares demolished Bernabe Fernandez in the third.
It was not the first occasion the Mexican contenders shared a prize ring the same night in separate bouts. In fact, they were on the undercard of Jose Napoles-Eugino Espinoza in December 1966 in Mexico City. In 1967, again in Mexico City, they were again on the same show when each of them silenced top rated opponents before Vicente Saldivar painted his masterpiece with a twelfth round TKO over tough contender Howard Winstone in the main event.
The fact that Castillo and Olivares did not face each other in a prize ring in their early years in the paid ranks in Mexico was most likely nothing more than pure coincidence, regarding the all-inclusive matchmaking habits back in those years when the live gate of the event presented the vast majority of the income it generated.
On the other hand, the fact they did not face each other in the US until April 1970 could not have been more perfectly planned.
Again, George Parnassus knew his trade and did not match the participants until he made them heavy ticket-sellers in separate bouts. He was an early bird in marinating fights into mega events.
Chucho got his chance to win the title in December 1968 against Rose. The champ received $75,000 for his services. That set a new record in the bantamweight division. Castillo’s share was $20,000, a massive payday for a challenger in the smaller categories at the time.
After a close 15-round encounter Rose got the decision in controversial fashion. The verdict sparked an ugly riot. Chairs were stacked and burned, bottles were flying inside the arena and cars got overturned in the parking lot. As an aftermath of the incident, officials of The Forum considered a ban on boxing.
Following the bout, Olivares said Rose rightfully got the win against his countryman. That statement just added fuel to the fire in a heated personal affair between Ruben and Chucho.
In August 1969, after Olivares shut off a pair of top rated Japanese 118-pounders in Kazuyoshi Kanazawa and Takao Sakurai, the Mexican Massacre walked through Rose in five rounds and become the new champ at bantamweight.
Now Parnassus knew the big fight between Olivares and Castillo was just around the corner.
In his first defense, the promoter matched Olivares against his mandatory in Alan Rudkin. The latter was yet to get stopped in 42 previous fights. Rudkin and manager Bobby Neill predicted the bout to go the route. Ruben instead demolished the Brit in less than six minutes.
On the undercard, Castillo showed his brilliant infighting skills, beating up world rated Raul Cruz in ten rounds in a rematch that served as a title eliminator.
Olivares vs Castillo was next.
Leading up to the huge all-Mexican brawl scheduled to take place where else than at The Forum on April 18, 1970, Castillo claimed he was more dedicated than Olivares whom he tabbed a clown.
18,762 fans paid a total of $281,840 to witness the bout live. Both turned to be numbers the venue had never produced on a boxing event before. Gate receipts were also second highest for an indoor event in the rich history of California. Olivares’s share of the purse was $100,000 while Castillo earned $30,000 as the challenger.
Olivares entered the bout as a 13-5 favorite with an unbelievable 57-0-1 record. Fifty-five of those wins came by way of knockout. Only two opponents were able to survive and hear the final bell (Felipe Gonzalez and German Bastidas; both bouts took place back in 1967) and both got stopped in rematches. These numbers could not help but plant the idea in the fans’ minds that Olivares was going to follow his tradition and stop Castillo, who had been stopped earlier in his career on four occasions.
This was the matchup that made George Parnassus arguably the best fight promoter in the whole world at the time.
Olivares started the fight better. He moved well, settling in at a distance that served him well going forward. He was a well-skilled slugger in front of a well-skilled brawler in Chucho. In the last thirty seconds of the third heat Castillo landed a short right hand that dropped Olivares. The champ rose immediately.
As the bout rolled on, Olivares seemed to be more mobile, had better timing and was effective enough with his trademark left hooks to keep Chucho from taking the lead. Castillo took everything Ruben could offer and came back for more. The challenger was never in serious danger of his murderous punching counterpart.
Olivares was forced to go fifteen rounds for the first time in his career. He did enough to get the nod of the judges and he walked away with a well-earned decision win. The crowd, however, was not happy with the verdict.
Based on the many close rounds and the heated actions through forty-five minutes of fighting, the rematch was a must-have and thus brought to bear six months later.
This time Castillo showed a perfect explanation of why George Parnassus years earlier said about him: ”He would fight a bull with a fork and be a 6-5 favorite.”
Olivares came out swinging and brought the war at close range only to get outbrawled by a shorter, more explosive challenger in the majority of the rounds after the fifth.
Ruben got cut early on his left eyelid and the stream of blood bothered his vision during the bout. Still it was he who chose to fight on the inside and Chucho did what he had to do to take the lead.
Referee Dick Young stopped the bout on the advice of the ring physician in the fourteenth heat and Castillo became champion on his third try with a TKO win. Ruben lost his ”O” after a marvelous 62-fight unbeaten streak.
The inevitable rubber match took place on April 2, 1971. Olivares now took his time, was focused and boxed his way into another fifteen round decision, thus winning back his title. Regardless of a sixth round knockdown scored by Chucho, this happened to be the only fight of the trilogy with a clean, unquestionable verdict.
All three bouts brought well over $200,000 in gate receipts excluding other additional incomes such as ancillary and foreign TV rights.
The brutal rivalry brought out the best in each man. Olivares had to dig deep and show the world he was more than just a slugger with enormous punching power in both hands. Castillo, on the other hand, proved that he was at championship level with good overall boxing skills along with an extra set of balls and an unbreakable chin.
Ruben went on to become an all-time great, defending his recaptured bantamweight championship twice and then won a pair of featherweight titles. Castillo had one more give-and-take war following his second loss to Olivares, where he dropped a controversial decision against Rafael Herrera. In his very next fight Herrera went on to dethrone Ruben for bantamweight supremacy.
Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo are forever remembered as greats of a beautifully brutal era of pugilism. And they are remembered largely because of a rivalry that started 47 years ago this month.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tamas Pradarics writes from Tihany, a village in Hungary. With Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya hailing his forthcoming May 6 promotion as the most anticipated Mexican vs. Mexican showdown of all time, we thought this piece was especially timely. Mexican fight fans who were around in 1970 would likely take exception to Oscar’s pronouncement.
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Argentina
The BWAA Shames Veteran Referee Laurence Cole and Two Nebraska Judges
In an unprecedented development, the Boxing Writers Association of America has started a “watch list” to lift the curtain on ring officials who have “screwed up.” Veteran Texas referee Laurence Cole and Nebraska judges Mike Contreras and Jeff Sinnett have the unwelcome distinction of being the first “honorees.”
“Boxing is a sport where judges and referees are rarely held accountable for poor performances that unfairly change the course of a fighter’s career and, in some instances, endanger lives,” says the BWAA in a preamble to the new feature. Hence the watch list, which is designed to “call attention to ‘egregious’ errors in scoring by judges and unacceptable conduct by referees.”
Contreras and Sinnett, residents of Omaha, were singled out for their scorecards in the match between lightweights Thomas Mattice and Zhora Hamazaryan, an eight round contest staged at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa on July 20. They both scored the fight 76-75 for Mattice, enabling the Ohio fighter to keep his undefeated record intact via a split decision.
Although Mattice vs. Hamazaryan was a supporting bout, it aired live on ShoBox. Analyst Steve Farhood, who was been with ShoBox since the inception of the series in 2001, called it one of the worst decisions he had ever seen. Lead announcer Barry Tompkins went further, calling it the worst decision he has seen in his 40 years of covering the sport.
Laurence Cole (pictured alongside his father) was singled out for his behavior as the third man in the ring for the fight between Regis Prograis and Juan Jose Velasco at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on July 14. The bout was televised live on ESPN.
In his rationale for calling out Cole, BWAA prexy Joseph Santoliquito leaned heavily on Thomas Hauser’s critique of Cole’s performance in The Sweet Science. “Velasco fought courageously and as well as he could,” noted Hauser. “But at the end of round seven he was a thoroughly beaten fighter.”
His chief second bullied him into coming out for another round. Forty-five seconds into round eight, after being knocked down for a third time, Velasco spit out his mouthpiece and indicated to Cole that he was finished. But Cole insisted that the match continue and then, after another knockdown that he ruled a slip, let it continue for another 35 seconds before Velasco’s corner mercifully threw in the towel.
Controversy has dogged Laurence Cole for well over a decade.
Cole was the third man in the ring for the Nov. 25, 2006 bout in Hildalgo, Texas, between Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca. In the fifth round, Marquez sustained a cut on his forehead from an accidental head butt. In round eight, another accidental head butt widened and deepened the gash. As Marquez was being examined by the ring doctor, Cole informed Marquez that he was ahead on the scorecards, volunteering this information while holding his hand over his HBO wireless mike. The inference was that Marquez was free to quit right then without tarnishing his record. (Marquez elected to continue and stopped Jaca in the next round.)
This was improper. For this indiscretion, Cole was prohibited from working a significant fight in Texas for the next six months.
More recently, Cole worked the 2014 fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido at the San Antonio Alamodome. During the fight, Salido made a mockery of the Queensberry rules for which he received no point deductions and only one warning. Cole’s performance, said Matt McGrain, was “astonishingly bad,” an opinion echoed by many other boxing writers. And one could site numerous other incidents where Cole’s performance came under scrutiny.
Laurence Cole is the son of Richard “Dickie” Cole. The elder Cole, now 87 years old, served 21 years as head of the Texas Department of Combat Sports Regulation before stepping down on April 30, 2014. At various times during his tenure, Dickie Cole held high executive posts with the World Boxing Council and North American Boxing Federation. He was the first and only inductee into the inaugural class of the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame, an organization founded by El Paso promoter Lester Bedford in 2015.
From an administrative standpoint, boxing in Texas during the reign of Dickie Cole was frequently described in terms befitting a banana republic. Whenever there was a big fight in the Lone Star State, his son was the favorite to draw the coveted refereeing assignment.
Boxing is a sideline for Laurence Cole who runs an independent insurance agency in Dallas. By law in Texas (and in most other states), a boxing promoter must purchase insurance to cover medical costs in the event that one or more of the fighters on his show is seriously injured. Cole’s agency is purportedly in the top two nationally in writing these policies. Make of that what you will.
Complaints of ineptitude, says the WBAA, will be evaluated by a “rotating committee of select BWAA members and respected boxing experts.” In subsequent years, says the press release, the watch list will be published quarterly in the months of April, August, and December (must be the new math).
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Canada and USA
In Boxing, the Last Weekend of July was Chock Full of Surprises
The first upset of last weekend occurred in an undercard bout on the big show at London’s O2 Arena. David Allen, a journeyman with a 13-4-2 record, knocked out previously undefeated
The first upset of last weekend occurred in an undercard bout on the big show at London’s O2 Arena. David Allen, a journeyman with a 13-4-2 record, knocked out previously undefeated Nick Webb (12-0, 10 KOs) in the fourth round. Allen said that he intended this to be his final fight, but will now hang around awhile.
In hindsight, this was an omen. Before the show was over, upsets – albeit mild upsets – were registered in both featured bouts. Dereck Chisora, trailing on the scorecards, stopped Carlos Takam in the eighth. Dillian Whyte outpointed Joseph Parker. And later that same day, in Kissimmee, Florida, Japanese import Masayuki Ito made a big splash in his U.S. debut, beating up highly touted Christopher Diaz.
– – – –
Joseph Parker is quite the gentleman. Following his loss to Dillian Whyte, Parker was gracious in defeat: “I say congratulations to Dillian. I gave it my best. The better man won.”
In case you missed it, Whyte survived a hoary moment in the final round to win a unanimous decision. Most everyone agreed that the decision was fair but there were a few dissenters. Well known U.K. boxing pundit Steve Bunce said, “I thought Parker deserved a draw.” Bunce noted that the scribes sitting near him were in complete accord that the most lopsided score (115-110) was far too wide.
We’ve seen fighters grouse that they were robbed after fights that were far less competitive. Parker’s post-fight amiability was all the more puzzling considering that he had a legitimate beef that referee Ian John Lewis was too lax, enabling Whyte to turn the contest into a street fight.
Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry was all on board with the selection of Lewis. “He’s a very highly qualified guy who I think is the best British referee,” he said. But Barry changed his tune after the fight, saying that there were at least two occasions when Lewis should have deducted a point from Whyte.
Veteran Australian boxing writer Anthony Cocks said that going forward, Parker, a soft spoken, mild mannered man, needs to have more of a mongrel in him. Cocks noted that when Whyte transgressed, Parker’s response was to look at the ref with a bemused expression. The first time that Whyte bent the rules, opined Cocks, Parker should have hit him in the balls.
– – – –
Top Rank hasn’t had much luck with their Puerto Rican fighters lately. First there was Felix Verdejo. Hyped as the next Felix Trinidad, the 2012 Olympian was 22-0 when his career was interrupted by a motorcycle accident. He won his first fight back in Puerto Rico, but was then exposed by Tijuana’s unheralded Antonio Lozada Jr. who stopped him in the 10th round at the Theater of Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick’s Day, 2018.
More recently, Top Rank gave a big build-up to Christopher Diaz, but Diaz, the 2016 ESPN Deportes Prospect of The Year, also hit the skids after starting his pro career 23-0. Diaz was upset on Saturday by Masayuki Ito in a match sanctioned for the vacant WBO 130-pound title.
Unlike Verdejo, Diaz was still standing at the final bell, but he was taken to the cleaners by his Japanese opponent who won comfortably on the scorecards.
– – – –
Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin made his pro debut on the Diaz-Ito undercard. Nikitin won every round of a 6-round contest.
If the name sounds vaguely familiar, this is the guy who defeated top seed Michael Conlan in a quarterfinal bantamweight match at the Rio Olympics. The decision, which Conlan greeted with a middle finger salute to the judges, was widely seen as a heist.
In signing new prospects, Top Rank honcho Bob Arum likes to gather up fighters who compete in the same weight class as fighters that he already controls. This sets up a scenario where he can double dip, extracting a commission from the purse of both principals.
The cluster is most pronounced in the lower weight classes. These fighters, listed alphabetically, are currently promoted or co-promoted by Top Rank: junior bantamweight Jerwin Ancajas (31-1-1), junior featherweight Michael Conlan (8-0), featherweight Christopher Diaz (23-1), super bantamweight Isaac Dogboe (19-0), super bantamweight Jessie Magdaleno (25-1), super bantamweight Jean Rivera (14-0), featherweight Genesis Servania (31-1), bantamweight Shakur Stevenson (7-0), bantamweight Antonio Vargas (7-0), featherweight Nicholas Walters (26-1-1).
The aforementioned Nikitin launched his pro career as a featherweight.
– – – –
In July of 2004, Danny Williams knocked out Mike Tyson in the fourth round at Louisville. Iron Mike had one more fight and then wisely called it quits. Williams had 48 more fights, the most recent coming last weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Williams was stopped in the 10th round by a local man, 35-year-old Lee McAllister, whose last documented fight had come in 2013. In that bout, McAllister, carrying 140 pounds, outpointed a Slovakian slug in a 6-round fight. During his hiatus from boxing, McAllister (that’s him in the red and white trunks), served a 9-month prison sentence for assaulting a patron while working in an Aberdeen kebab shop.
Danny Williams’ weight wasn’t announced, but in his three fights prior to fighting McAllister he came in a tad north of 270 pounds. He reportedly out-weighed McAllister by 4 stone (56 pounds), likely a loose approximation.
Williams is a product of Brixton, the hardscrabble Afro-Caribbean neighborhood in South London that also spawned Dillian Whyte. But he has no intention of going back there. After the McAllister fight, in which he was knocked down three times, he said he was retiring to Nigeria where he had a job waiting for him as a bodyguard.
– – – –
The ink was barely dry on the weekend’s events when news arrived that Tyson Fury was close to signing for a December bout with WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder. On social media, Fury said the deal was almost done and Fury’s promoter Frank Warren confirmed it while saying that it was conditional on Fury looking good when he opposes Francesco Pianeta on Aug. 18 at the Windsor Park soccer stadium in Belfast. Fury vs. Pianeta underpins Carl Frampton’s WBO featherweight title defense against Luke Jackson.
As to whether he would be ready to defeat Wilder after only two comeback fights, Fury, who turns 30 this month, said he was ready to beat Wilder on the day he was born.
Deontay Wilder is disappointed that his dream match with Anthony Joshua won’t happen until next spring at the earliest, but there are plenty of options out there for him and more of them for him to ponder after this past weekend’s events.
Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz looked good against Razvan Cojanu, dismissing his hapless Romanian adversary in the second round on the Garcia-Easter card in Los Angeles.
After the bout, WBC prexy Mauricio Suliaman gave Wilder his blessing to skirt his mandatory against Dominic Breazeale for a rematch with Ortiz.
Presumably that also applies if Wilder accepts promoter Eddie Hearn’s offer for a match with Dillian Whyte. The WBC now lists Whyte as their “silver” champion and has bumped him ahead of Breazeale into the #1 slot in their rankings. And then there’s Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller who has an Eddie Hearn connection and is a more interesting opponent than Breazeale.
If Wilder vs. Fury is a go, say Fury and Warren, it will be held in December in New York or Las Vegas. We make New York the favorite. The only good date in Las Vegas in December for an event of this magnitude is Dec. 1 and that’s only because Thanksgiving arrives early this year. The National Finals Rodeo, a 10-day event which fills up the town, arrives on Dec. 6, eliminating the next two weekends. And when the rodeo leaves, Christmas is right around the corner. Historically, boxing promoters shy away from putting on a big show right before Christmas on the theory that fight fans have the “shorts,” having exhausted their discretionary income on Christmas gifts.
There are some interesting fighters competing in the upper tier of the heavyweight division and a slew of intriguing prospects coming up the ladder. The division hasn’t been this exciting since the Golden Age of Ali, Frazier, Foreman, et al. Enjoy.
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Asia & Oceania
Les Moonves, Hero of Mayweather-Pacquiao Deal, Now Cast as a Villain
“He refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
That comment, offered in praise of Les Moonves for the pivotal role the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation played in helping make the May 2, 2015, megafight pairing
“He refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
That comment, offered in praise of Les Moonves for the pivotal role the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation played in helping make the May 2, 2015, megafight pairing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, has taken on a more sordid connotation in light of the avalanche of accusations of sexual impropriety that have thrust the 68-year-old Moonves into the unwelcome company of such accused high-visibility miscreants as Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Bill O’Reilly and Matt Lauer.
But while the other aforementioned power players have been fired or indicted, their reputations in tatters, Moonves remains on the job as one of the most influential and highest paid (a reported $70 million in 2017) media executives in the United States. Despite a damning article authored by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker that details numerous instances of bad behavior ranging from merely dubious to criminally actionable, and to which Moonves himself has admitted to some extent, CBS on Monday issued a statement of support that seemed to catch the editors of Variety somewhat off-guard. The entertainment publication’s opening paragraph reads thusly: “In a surprise move, CBS’ board of directors is keeping Leslie Moonves as chairman-CEO even as it launches a probe of sexual assault allegations leveled against him by six women in a New Yorker expose.”
Why should still another story of alleged sexual misconduct by an older man seeking to exert improper control over younger women be of any significance to a fight audience? Well, normally it wouldn’t, except for Moonves’ position, which includes a say in the direction of Showtime’s increasingly important boxing operation if he so chooses. When negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao, a pay-per-view event which was to be co-produced by Showtime and HBO, hit a snag, Moonves insinuated himself into the discussion because it made financial and logistic sense for him to do so. CBS/Showtime had entered into a six-bout, $250 million deal with Mayweather, and three of the four fights held to that point had underperformed. Subsequently, the prevailing belief in CBS/Showtime’s executive offices was that Mayweather’s long-delayed showdown with Pacquiao was not only advisable, but absolutely necessary to stanch the flow of red ink.
“Without Les Moonves, this fight wouldn’t have had a prayer of happening,” Top Rank chairman and CEO Bob Arum, a longtime friend of Moonves, said after the last “i” had been dotted and the last “t” crossed. “The real hero in getting this done is Les Moonves.”
And this from Stephen Espinoza, Showtime Sports’ executive vice president and general manager, tossing another verbal bouquet to his boss: “One of the main reasons this deal got done, when maybe other ones didn’t, was having Les Moonves as part of the process. He was deeply committed to making this deal. He is someone that all parties in this negotiation respected. He was really the catalyst for seeing this through. He refused to take `no’ for an answer from any side. He was there making sure that the parties came together in a successful and cooperative manner.”
But while the high-level wheeling and dealing to finalize Mayweather-Pacquiao was done behind closed doors, so too were those instances when Moonves was attempting to arrange a private deal with a female subordinate whose career he could either advance or stymie. One such occasion allegedly involved writer-actress Ileana Douglas, who was summoned to Moonves’ office to discuss matters involving a television project in which she was to have starred. The New Yorker story quotes Douglas’ heightening discomfort as Moonves made coarse and physical advances toward her.
“At that point, you’re a trapped animal,” Douglas said of the incident. “Your life is flashing before your eyes. It has stayed with me the rest of my life, that terror.”
After The New Yorker story came out, Moonves apologized, sort of, to the six women who told Farrow that the CBS bigwig had sexually harassed them. All claimed he became cold and hostile after they rejected his advances, and that they believed their careers suffered as a result.
In a statement, Moonves said, “Throughout my time at CBS, we have promoted a culture of respect and opportunity for all employees, and have consistently found success elevating women to top executive positions across our company. I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected – and abided by the principle – that `no’ means `no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career … We at CBS are committed to being part of the solution.”
What makes the furor that has suddenly swirled up around Moonves all the more curious is his prominent support for the #MeToo movement and other feminist causes. In December, he helped found the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. A month prior to that, at a conference in November, he said, “I think it’s important that a company’s culture will not allow for (sexual harassment). And that’s the thing that’s far-reaching. There’s a lot we’re learning. There’s a lot we didn’t know.”
There’s a lot we didn’t know? Oh, for sure. We didn’t know for a very long time that TV’s favorite father figure, now-81-year-old Bill Cosby, would be classified as a sexually violent predator by a Pennsylvania court. Cosby is due to be sentenced Sept. 24 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, and his alma mater, Temple University, rescinded the honorary Ph.D. it conferred upon him in 1991. The Cos resigned his spot on Temple’s Board of Trustees in 2014, after 32 years, amid accusations that he sexually assaulted dozens of women over decades.
We also didn’t know that Harvey Weinstein, 66, the co-founder of Miramax, would be dismissed from the company and be expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after the New York Times ran a story on Oct, 5, 2017, detailing decades of allegations against him by over 80 women. It would seem that the most important piece of furniture in Weinstein’s office was not his desk, but the proverbial casting couch.
One of the more intriguing developments in the widening scandal involved TV newsmen Bill O’Reilly and Matt Lauer. In September 2017, O’Reilly, fired by Fox News for a series of alleged sexual improprieties, appeared as a guest on NBC’s Today show, where he told host Matt Lauer that his dismissal was “a hit job – a political and financial hit job.” Two months later, Lauer was canned by NBCUniversal after it was found he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with another much more junior NBC employee. Three additional women subsequently made complaints against Lauer.
Boxing is a physical sport, maybe the most physical there is, and in most cases the transgressions committed were by fighters who resorted to brute force, the fastest way to bring cops and attorneys into the equation. Think Tony Ayala Jr. spending 17 years behind bars for rape, a conviction that came on the heels of a previous incident in which he broke a teenage girl’s jaw after he made unwanted advances toward her in the restroom of a drive-in theater. But it might be argued that those who seek to have their way with women by exercising a different kind of power are just as much or even more reprehensible, an affront not only to the females they view as disposable objects but to any man who would not want to see his mother, wife or daughter treated so shabbily.
According to CBS, there have been no misconduct claims and no settlements against Moonves during his 24 years at the network. He deserves, as everyone does under the American system of jurisprudence, the presumption of innocence. But given the current landscape befouled by others who apparently felt that they could do whatever they wanted because they always had gotten away with it, sticking with the status quo might send the wrong message.
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