Featured Articles
Nevada Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas: Hearns, McCarter, Porter

Thomas “Hitman” Hearns leads a heavy duty roster of greats into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame this weekend in Las Vegas.
Detroit’s Hearns will be joined in the Hall of Fame along with departed inductees including Salvador Sanchez, Ken Norton and referee Davey Pearl. Several others will also be honored in a two-day affair at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that begins Friday afternoon and ends Saturday.
The Nevada Hall of Fame will also award several current boxers for their performances in 2017 including Layla McCarter and Shawn Porter as “Fighters of the Year.” This year amateurs are also awarded and those tabbed are Yarisel Ramirez and Emiliano Fernando Vargas.
McCarter, 38, defeated Szilvia Szabados by knockout last April and is considered the best female fighter pound for pound. She has not lost a fight in 10 years.
Porter, 29, won by knockout over Andre Berto in April and is considered one of the most exciting welterweights in the world today.
Prospects of the year are Latondria Jones and Kevin Newman.
A Humanitarian Award will be given to Jill Diamond and the President’s award to Jimmy Montoya.
Those inducted into the Hall of Fame this year are:
Lucia Rijker – considered by most experts the best female boxer of all time. “The Dutch Destroyer” was never defeated inside a boxing ring and fought from 1996 to 2004. She had the entire war chest of speed, power, skill and defense. The only thing that eluded her was the big payday and mega fight. But anyone who saw her perform was thoroughly impressed with her fighting skills. One classic fight was her battle with a young Chevelle Hallback. It was an explosive example of how good female boxing could be.
Michael Carbajal – the light flyweight from Phoenix, Arizona proved to the world that even the little guys could hit with power. Very few opponents could stand toe to toe with “Little Hands of Stone” including Mexico’s Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez who in 1993 was defeated by Carbajal in their first encounter in Las Vegas. The two light flyweights became the first in their weight class to break the million dollar barrier. Carbajal retired after winning the WBO light flyweight title in 1999 by knockout over Jorge Arce. Carbajal also won the 1988 Seoul Olympics silver medal.
Leon and Michael Spinks – were the first brothers to win gold medals in boxing in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. They were also the first brothers to win heavyweight world championships. Michael Spinks is considered one of the top light heavyweights of all time before heading toward the heavyweight division. He dethroned Larry Holmes who had reigned as heavyweight champion for seven-plus years. Older brother Leon Spinks made history by defeating the great Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight world title after only seven pro fights in February 1978. He lost the title back to Ali in September 1978.
Richie Sandoval – The Pomona prizefighter ended the long reign of Philadelphia great “Joltin” Jeff Chandler in April 1984 to win the world bantamweight title. Sandoval was a boxer-puncher who learned his craft while fighting primarily in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He lost only one fight in his professional career and now lives in Las Vegas where he now works with Top Rank in the boxing industry. It’s been a long time coming for the slick bantamweight champion.
Eric Morales – The Mexican fighter is perhaps the greatest boxer to ever come out of the boxing rich town of Tijuana. Morales engaged in some of the most riveting fights in the last 20 years including his wars with Marco Antonio Barrera, Manny Pacquiao and Marcos Maidana. His first clash with fellow Mexican Barrera is considered one of the greatest fights of all time. It was a mesmerizing affair that took place in Las Vegas in 2000. Morales won world titles as a super bantamweight, featherweight and super lightweight.
Tommy Hearns – Detroit’s “Hitman” Hearns was a fearsome sight with his long lean body and explosive speed and power. His welterweight battle between undefeated world champions in 1981 with Ray Leonard is considered a classic. He also battled against the best of his time including Roberto Duran, Wilfredo Benitez and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He won world titles as a welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight. He possessed shocking power in that lean body frame.
Gone But Not Forgotten:
Salvador Sanchez – hailed from a small town in Mexico and fought in some classic battles against Azumah Nelson, Danny “Lil Red” Lopez and Ruben Castillo. But perhaps his most famous clash came against Puerto Rico’s Wilfredo “Bazooka” Gomez who at the time of their confrontation in August 1981 was considered pound for pound the best fighter in the world. Gomez had knocked out 32 consecutive opponents when he moved up a division to face Sanchez. In their fight the Mexican featherweight knocked down Gomez early then knocked him out in the eighth round. It was Gomez’s first defeat. Sadly, Sanchez would only fight three more times before dying in a car crash in the mountains of Mexico in August 1982. He was only 23 years old.
Ken Norton – was known as the heavyweight whose style always gave the great Muhammad Ali problems whenever they fought. Though he never captured a heavyweight world title he was an important factor in the golden era of heavyweights. Aside from clashing with Ali three times he also fought George Foreman, Larry Holmes, and Jerry Quarry. Norton fought several times in Las Vegas including his contests against Holmes and Jimmy Young. He passed away in 2013.
Contributors to Boxing’s Glory
Debbie Munch – vice president of public relations at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and its affiliate properties for more than 30 years. Many of the most historic prize fights took place at Caesars Palace during her tenure including Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Julio Cesar Chavez and Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney.
Rafael Garcia – corner man for Floyd Mayweather and numerous other fighters. He was born in Mexico City and rose through the boxing ranks as a trainer for many boxers, then as a cut man for Mayweather. He’s famous for always wearing a dark hat with medals attached to it. He’s considered one of the best in the boxing business in wrapping hands and treating cuts during a fight.
Mel Greb – a boxing promoter and matchmaker during the 1970s and 1980s in Nevada. He was a part of some of the biggest boxing collaborations that took part in Nevada. Muhammad Ali reportedly fought in Las Vegas because of Greb, who inadvertently introduced him to wrestler Gorgeous George on a radio show. Ali is said to have been impressed by his braggadocio and implemented the tactics for his own career. Greb also worked at Caesars Palace to help pay the phone bills of his matchmaking career. He passed away in 1997 at age 75. He helped stage Ali vs. Jerry Quarry II, Leon Spinks vs. Scott LeDoux and Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson II.
Dr. Elias Ghanem – First appointed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 1987, he headed the commission from 1997 to 2001. Under his watch he resided over the famous ear biting incident involving Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. He passed away in August 2001 at age 62.
Davey Pearl – a veteran boxing referee and judge who worked more than 70 world title fights in his career including Ray Leonard vs Tommy Hearns and Salvador Sanchez vs. Juan La Porte. The last world title bout he refereed was a cruiserweight bout between Evander Holyfield vs. Rickey Parkey in 1987. Pearl passed away at age 88 in 2006.
Events Calendar
Fri. – A meet and greet with boxers will take place at the Palace Ballroom in Caesars Palace between 12 noon and 4 p.m.
Sat. – Amateur fights will take place between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Roman Ballroom in Caesars Palace.
Sat. – Celebrity red carpet begins at 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Sat. – Hall of Fame induction gala from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For more information call (702) 368-2463.
Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.
Featured Articles
Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke
Years ago, I worked at a newsstand in the Beverly Hills area. It was a 24-hour a day version and the people that dropped by were very colorful and unique.
One elderly woman Eva, who bordered on homeless but pridefully wore lipstick, would stop by the newsstand weekly to purchase a pack of menthol cigarettes. On one occasion, she asked if I had ever been to San Diego?
I answered “yes, many times.”
She countered “you need to watch out for San Diego Smoke.”
This Saturday, Top Rank brings its brand of prizefighting to San Diego or what could be called San Diego Smoke. Leading the fight card is Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) defending the WBO super feather title against undefeated Filipino Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) at Pechanga Arena. ESPN will televise.
This is Navarrete’s fourth defense of the super feather title.
The last time Navarrete stepped in the boxing ring he needed six rounds to dismantle the very capable Oscar Valdez in their rematch. One thing about Mexico City’s Navarrete is he always brings “the smoke.”
Also, on the same card is Fontana, California’s Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) vying for the interim IBF lightweight title against Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) on the co-main event.
Abdullaev has only fought once before in the USA and was handily defeated by Devin Haney back in 2019. But that was six years ago and since then he has knocked off various contenders.
Muratalla is a slick fighting lightweight who trains at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy now in Moreno Valley, Calif. It’s a virtual boot camp with many of the top fighters on the West Coast available to spar on a daily basis. If you need someone bigger or smaller, stronger or faster someone can match those needs.
When you have that kind of preparation available, it’s tough to beat. Still, you have to fight the fight. You never know what can happen inside the prize ring.
Another fighter to watch is Perla Bazaldua, 19, a young and very talented female fighter out of the Los Angeles area. She is trained by Manny Robles who is building a small army of top female fighters.
Bazaldua (1-0, 1 KO) meets Mona Ward (0-1) in a super flyweight match on the preliminary portion of the Top Rank card. Top Rank does not sign many female fighters so you know that they believe in her talent.
Others on the Top Rank card in San Diego include Giovani Santillan, Andres Cortes, Albert Gonzalez, Sebastian Gonzalez and others.
They all will bring a lot of smoke to San Diego.
Probox TV
A strong card led by Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) facing Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) in a super welterweight clash between southpaws takes place on Saturday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida. PROBOX TV will stream the fight card.
Ardreal has rocketed up the standings and now faces veteran Lubin whose only losses came against world titlists Sebastian Fundora and Jermell Charlo. It’s a great match to decide who deserves a world title fight next.
Another juicy match pits Argentina’s Nazarena Romero (14-0-2) against Mexico’s Mayelli Flores (12-1-1) in a female super bantamweight contest.
Nottingham, England
Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defends the IBO super featherweight title against Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) in Wood’s hometown on Saturday at Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. DAZN will stream the Queensberry Promotions card.
Ireland’s Cacace seems to have the odds against him. But he is no stranger to dancing in the enemy’s lair or on foreign territory. He formerly defeated Josh Warrington in London and Joe Cordina in Riyadh in IBO title defenses.
Lampley at Wild Card
Boxing telecaster Jim Lampley will be signing his new book It Happened! at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood, Calif. on Saturday, May 10, beginning at 2 p.m. Lampley has been a large part of many of the greatest boxing events in the past 40 years. He and Freddie Roach will be at the signing.
Fights to Watch (All times Pacific Time)
Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Anthony Cacace (23-1) vs Leigh Wood (28-3).
Sat. PROBOX.tv 3 p.m. Erickson Lubin (26-2) vs Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0).
Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1) vs Charly Suarez (18-0); Raymond Muratalla (22-0) vs Zaur Abdullaev (20-1).
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.
It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.
In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.
Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.
It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.
“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”
Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.
Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.
Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.
Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.
We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.
Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”
But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.
“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”
Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.
Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”
If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.
Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”
Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.
Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.
On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More
It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.
In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.
Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.
CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.
****
Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.
Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”
And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.
Joey Archer
Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer
Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.
Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)
Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.
Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.
In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.
When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.
Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.
May he rest in peace.
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside