Odds and Ends from a Quick Visit to the Mayweather Boxing Club

Published

6 years ago

January 11, 2019

The Mayweather Boxing Club sits 2.7 miles from my house and I drop by often because you never know who you will run into there. On some days it’s a mini-United Nations, a reminder that boxing is a global sport. For some established boxers from overseas, a trip to Las Vegas wouldn’t be complete without a workout at Floyd Mayweather’s gym. It’s a rite of passage.

On Thursday, Jan. 10, I dropped by, not of my own volition but because I was summoned there with other members of the local fight media to interview Badou Jack who will take on unbeaten Marcus Browne in the chief undercard bout on the Pacquaio-Broner card on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Shawn Porter was there, just killing time (he has his own gym in Las Vegas) as was Layla McCarter to work off the rust (which included sparring with a member of the opposite sex) in preparation for her fight next week with Argentina’s Yamila Reynoso.

Shooting the breeze with Shawn and Layla was a bonus. Both are extremely personable and always insightful.

Porter, who scored a mild upset over Danny Garcia in his last fight, will risk his WBC world welterweight title against Yordenis Ugas at the MGM Grand on March 9. The Cuban defector has won eight straight since returning to the ring after a 27-month hiatus.

Porter, 31, has never seen Ugas fight in the flesh, only on TV, but notes that Ugas’s style differs from that of other fighters who are products of Cuba’s vaunted amateur system. “He’s more of a power puncher,” says Porter. “Cubans like to use the entire ring.” The implication is that Porter, whose style is that of a swarmer, won’t have to hunt him down.

Shawn will be a substantial favorite. If he wins, as expected, he will have a lot of options going forward. A rematch with Keith Thurman seems like a natural. The undefeated Thurman, who has been sidelined for almost two years with assorted injuries, returns to the ring later this month for a bout with Josesito Lopez.

The Thurman-Porter fight, on June 25, 2016, aired on primetime on CBS, the first primetime fight on the “Eye” in 38 years. From an aesthetic standpoint, it was a rousing success. After 12 furious rounds, all three judges had it 115-113 for Thurman. There were scattered boos when the decision was announced.

Porter has called out Thurman in the past and there have been reports over the past three months that negotiations were underway for a rematch. Shawn says those reports were premature: “Thurman has showed that he doesn’t really want to fight me again. You can bet that he will have his fingers crossed that Ugas beats me.”

What about the winner of the forthcoming match between Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia?

Porter would take it, but allows that Mikey Garcia, who will be making his initial venture as a welterweight, has never been on his radar screen.

Most boxing insiders believe that Garcia has bitten off more than he can chew. In Errol Spence, he will be meeting a man who is bigger and stronger and has knocked out 21 of his 24 opponents including the last 11. But Porter believes that Garcia has a legitimate chance of springing the upset. He uses the word “textbook” in his analysis, using the word as an adjective to highlight Mikey Garcia’s high ring IQ.

Porter was in the audience for the Wilder-Fury fight and thought that the decision was fair. They will inevitably meet again and Porter favors Wilder in the sequel (no surprise as they share the same promoter). “But,” he says, “Deontay Wilder will need to make some adjustments. Big adjustments.”

When talking with Shawn Porter, the conversation invariably veers off to other sports. He was an all-conference running back and defensive back at Ohio’s Stow-Munroe Falls High School, the same school that spawned Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka, and is a big fan of the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns made great strides in 2018, finishing 7-8-1 after entering the season on a 17-game losing streak. And yet after the season the owner fired interim coach Gregg Williams who was 5-3 during his tenure. But Porter is okay with that. He expects the Browns to make another leap forward next year under the new man Freddie Kitchens, an offensive-minded coach who was promoted from within.

It figured that Porter, whose game is all about offense, would be partial toward an offensive-minded coach.

Layla

By and large, female fighters have short careers, in part because it’s a small universe and finding fresh opponents can be challenge. Layla McCarter is the exception. Now in her 21^st year as a pro, the 39-year-old McCarter has 60 fights under her belt. “I never thought I would outlive my career,” she says.

McCarter’s 42-13-5 record is misleading. Six fights into her career, she was 1-4-1. She’s won 19 straight since losing to rugged Melissa Hernandez in 2007 during which she avenged that setback twice. TSS West Coast Bureau Chief David Avila, an authority on female boxing, calls her the most feared and most avoided fighter in her sport.

The longtime Las Vegas resident is a road warrior. Recent fights have taken her to New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico twice, and more recently Germany. Several Las Vegas fights fell out when NSAC head Bob Bennett wouldn’t approve her opponent. There’s nothing sketchy, however, about Yamila Reynoso. The Argentine, who is 11-5-3 with eight wins by stoppage, has competed in three bouts sanctioned for world titles and has never been stopped. Plus she’s only 22 years old.

If youth is to be served, McCarter’s winning streak will end. And Layla had some qualms about taking this fight because it fell into her lap on such short notice. She spent time out of town with family during the holidays, pushing aside her daily training regimen.

Turning down the fight — it’s scheduled for eight rounds — wasn’t an option. Throughout her career McCarter has been paid what the late sportswriter Jimmy Cannon would have called “moving around money.”

“Trickle Down Economics doesn’t work,” says McCarter, “and it especially doesn’t work with respect to female boxing.” She alleges that although more money has filtered into female boxing from TV, promoters haven’t increased purses commensurately. She says this matter-of-factly, without rancor.

The biggest money fight out there for McCarter would be a match with Cecilia Braekhus. Ms. Braekhus holds the IBF world female welterweight title, among other belts. Last we checked, Layla McCarter held the women’s IBF world welterweight title. Note the difference in the wording. The IBF has no qualms about splitting semantic hairs to gather in an extra sanctioning fee.

“Cecilia Braekhus has made it plain that she doesn’t want to fight me,” says McCarter. That leaves Katie Taylor among potential opponents against whom McCarter would draw a sizeable paycheck. Layla thinks that fight will happen in 2019.

Taylor, who resides in Connecticut but is a huge star in her native Ireland, turned pro in November of 2016 after a long run on the amateur scene. She’s a great talent, but at age 32, despite only 12 pro fights, she has a lot of mileage.

“I know that I don’t have a long window to get out of this sport with a nice retirement nest egg,” says McCarter. “I’d like to invest in real estate and I’m hoping this is the year I make enough money to do it. I don’t have any concrete plans for when I quit boxing, but I’m sure I’ll always be around the sport.”

Badou Jack

Badou Jack is known for having a laid-back attitude. That was on display on Thursday as he talked about his upcoming clash with former U.S. Olympian Marcus Browne, a 12-round bout for a minor WBC title. The likely prize for the winner is a date with newly minted WBC 175-pound champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“I look at it as just another day on the job,” said Jack, who turned 35 in October. “I feel young and like I’m still improving.” (In my mind, “thirty-five is the new twenty-five,” interjected Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, seated on the ring apron.) “I’m battle-tested,” continued Jack who has held world titles in two weight classes. He noted that his opponent has never fought on such a large stage.

The father of two young children, Badou is not only a professional boxer, but an entrepreneur and philanthropist. This past summer he co-founded Ripper Nutrition, a company whose products are described as pre- and post-workout non-prescription nutritional supplements for fitness addicts. The fledgling company has reportedly signed a lucrative deal to distribute their products in Asia. The Badou Jack Foundation focuses on improving the lot of people in refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa, particularly orphans.

Ellerbe

Leonard Ellerbe (pictured) calls the Pacquiao-Broner bout a “must-win” fight for both combatants. The loser will undoubtedly suffer a big dip in marketability. Broner, in Ellerbe’s estimation, is in the best shape of his life.

Another Mayweather Promotions fighter, Gervonta Davis, will be in action on the second Saturday of February. Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) defends his version of the 130-pound title against Abner Mares at the LA-area venue formerly known as the Stub Hub Center.

When Ellerbe raves about Gervonta Davis, one gets the sense that he believes every word of it. “Gervonta has that ‘it’ factor,” he says. “He has a connection with the younger generation. I believe he will be the first little fighter to command ridiculous purses.”

Having spent the last decade riding the Floyd Mayweather rocket ship, Ellerbe is familiar with ridiculous purses.

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Arne K. Lang

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The Avila Perspective, Chap. 29: Uzcategui – Plant, Pacquiao – Broner and More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-289-East-L.A.-A-Fight-Town-Claressa-Shields-and-More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-Jake-Paul-and-Women's-Boxing-a-Curmudgeon's-Take

Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Former-World-Bamtamweight-Champion-Richie-Sandoval-Passes-Away-at-age-63

Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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