A Logbook of Boxers Behaving Badly…Really, Really Badly!

Published

6 years ago

February 20, 2019

Ted Sares

This isn’t about a fighter biting off part of his opponent’s ear, nor is it about saying, “no mas.” Those incidents have been well-vetted. This is about lesser known and in some cases more reprehensible incidents in which certain fighters behaved in a manner at odds with the standard set by the thousands of fighters who boxed before them.

Tony Anthony (1984) “The Blindside”

In November 1984, Detroit’s “The Fighting Schoolteacher,” Tony Anthony (16-2), took out heavy-handed Mike “Hercules” Weaver with a crunching left hook. A stunned Weaver sagged to the canvas like he had been sapped. The shocking ending came in a fight at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Mike was done. But then, so was “The Schoolteacher.”

The punch, which hit the defenseless Weaver in the back of the neck, landed after the bell had sounded ending round one as Weaver, having been dazed by a legal punch that landed at the bell, wandered back to the wrong corner. School ended early for Tony as he was summarily DQd. The stunned crowd hooted and howled as Tony lamely tried to explain that he did not hear the bell.

Some years later, the “Harlem Hammer,” James Butler, would take this scenario to a more horrific level when he slugged defenseless Richard Grant at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

The Harlem Hammer (2001) ”Cuff him!, Cuff him!, Cuff him!”

”He hasn’t been able to eat since the fight…I’ve never seen anyone get hit with a punch like this, blood squirting out of his mouth. He looked like he was dead.”— Promotor Jimmy Birchfield

One of the very worst losers in boxing history was James “The Harlem Hammer” Butler when he sucker-punched Richard Grant following their 10-round bout. The heavily bleeding Grant, who had just upset Butler, winning a unanimous decision, received 26 stitches, his jaw had been injured, he had some loose teeth and he later experienced severe headaches. Butler had used his bare hand.

As the crowd (with 500 police officials attending) chanted ”Cuff him!; cuff him!; cuff him!,” Butler was arrested and arraigned the next day on a second-degree assault charge for which he served four months in jail.

This was a precursor to a subsequent and unimaginable tragedy in 2004 in which Butler bludgeoned to death Sam Kellerman (brother of Max), a sportswriter who had befriended him. He murdered Kellerman with, yes, a hammer.

This entire sordid affair is one of the lowest points in boxing history with long-reaching implications. Every list has a “worst,” and this incident is it for this list.

Zab Judah (2001 and 2006) “It’s a Family Affair”

2001

When the undefeated and cocky Judah met the undefeated and humble Kostya Tszyu in November 2001, he said, “Tszyu’s style is made for me…He’s strong, stands up straight and comes forward. His style is like Swiss cheese – full of holes.” Unfortunately, Zab never had time to find those holes as Tszyu caught him with a perfect right hand in the second round and the famous “Chicken Dance” ensued, leading referee Jay Nady to waive it off. Zab then lost it (no pun intended) and went after Nady, first by throwing a stool at him and then holding his glove under Nady’s throat. It was uncomfortable for Nady and uncomfortable to witness.

2006

Later, Zab was involved is still another unseemly affair. In a fight tainted by a 10th-round brawl, Floyd Mayweather Jr. won a 12-round UD against Judah in April 2006 in Las Vegas in front of a near-sellout crowd of over 15,000 screaming fans. With seconds remaining in the 10th round, all hell erupted in the ring after Judah fouled Mayweather with a low blow. All of a sudden, it became a family affair. Mayweather’s trainer and uncle, former world champion boxer Roger Mayweather (who had predicted that something like this might occur) jumped in the ring and went after Judah. Zab’s father and trainer, Yoel Judah, then went into the ring from the other corner. Others also rushed into the ring before order was restored. Judah, his father, and Roger Mayweather were all fined and had their boxing licences revoked for one year.

Luis Alberto “El Mosquito” Lazarte (2012) “Riot Time in Argentina”

Lazarte had a record of 49-10-2 and was a former IBF light flyweight world champion when he took on the young Filipino John Riel Casimero with an interim world title at stake. However, four of his losses had come by way of disqualification, two in world title fights. Well known for his dirty tricks, Luis “El Mosquito” Lazarte was one dirty Mosquito and in this fight he reached a new level of loathsomeness.

“Lazarte tried to bully his way through Casimero’s defense from the start,” wrote Philippine Star reporter Joaquin Henson. “He bit the Filipino’s shoulder twice, butted, elbowed, threw rabbit punches and held his head down while belting out sucker blows. A point was deducted from Lazarte’s scorecard in the sixth for repeated butting.”

Casimero bent the rules too and didn’t help matters by gloating. In the ninth he knocked down Lazarte twice and was battering Lazarte in the 10^th when the referee Eddie Claudio stopped the fight. This ignited a full-scale riot. Here’s how Dan Rafael reported it: “As (Claudio) was stopping the bout, spectators at ringside began throwing debris into the ring and eventually it became a full-scale riot — the worst boxing has seen since one erupted at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1996 after heavyweight Andrew Golota was disqualified for repeatedly hitting Riddick Bowe below the belt in the first of their two fights.”

This ugly scene, which is on You Tube, has to be seen to be believed. The liquored-up pro- Lazarte crowd went bonkers and threw drinks, empty bottles, scores of chairs, chains, and other debris into the ring hitting Casimero and his cornermen who then wisely hid under the ring for some 30 minutes. It seemed like every chair in the house was in the ring.

Worse than his infractions was what “El Mosquito” said to Claudio as he was being deducted a point in the sixth round: “Do you want to make it out of here alive?”

Later IBF President Daryl Peoples wrote “There is one measure that we are taking into our own hands and that we will enforce,…As a result of Luis Lazarte threatening the life of referee Eddie Claudio while receiving a points deduction in the sixth round, Lazarte is banned from being involved in any capacity in any IBF-related fight that takes place in Argentina or around the world.” But like many suspensions this one last only 29 months. El Mosquito fought four more times before retiring in 2015 with a 52-12-2 record–and a likely place in Boxing’s Virtual Hall of Shame.

Andrew Golota (1992-2013) “Boxing is 10% Physical and 90% Mental,”

Headbutting, biting and elbowing, the Pole from Chicago by way of Warsaw became known as the “The Foul Pole” and actually became a serial quitter of sorts as he took the DQ route against Riddick Bowe twice and quit against Michael Grant and Mike Tyson. Mental meltdowns were not uncommon for this man who possessed solid talent (41-9-1) that he went and squandered with his lack of stability in the ring. When someone says “boxing is 10% physical and 90% mental,” Golota quickly comes to mind.

“Vicious” Victor Ortiz also comes to mind given his documented serial-like propensity to quit.

Juan Manuel Lopez (2012) “Accident Waiting to Happen”

Juanma’s post fight behavior, winning or losing, has been bizarre on more than one occasion. However, after he lost in a tremendous battle with Orlando “Siri” Salido for the second time, a groggy Lopez whined during the post-fight interview and accused referee Roberto Ramirez and his son Roberto Ramirez Jr (who was the third man for the first Salido-Lopez fight) of having gambling problems. (Of course, he might still have been on Queer Street while being interviewed by the ever-opportunistic Jim Gray.)

Gray went on to induction into the IBHOF while the often concussed Lopez remains a possible accident waiting to happen if he continues to box.

Can you think of other really bad losers?

Ted Sares is one of the world’s oldest active power lifters and Strongman competitors and plans to compete in at least three events in 2019. He is a lifetime member of Ring 10, and a member of Ring 4 and its Boxing Hall of Fame. He also is an Auxiliary Member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).

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History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

Published

19 hours ago

April 2, 2025

Arne K. Lang

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.

This hoary premise had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.

Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.

Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.

And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.

Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.

The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.

In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.

Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)

The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10^th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.

Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.

That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.

The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.

The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11^th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.

Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.

Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.

Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:

Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)

Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.

Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”

Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.

What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.

What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.

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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

5 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

Published

5 days ago

March 29, 2025

David A. Avila

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns in this rematch.

The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.

It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.

Nothing changed in their second meeting.

Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.

The blows came in bunches.

In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.

Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.

Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.

During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.

But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.

“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.

Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.

“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.

Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.

“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.

Female Flyweight Battle

Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.

Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.

Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.

The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.

Neither fighter could take over the fight.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.

Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.

Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.

Puerto Rico vs Mexico

Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.

Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.

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