The Patterson vs Johansson Fight That Could Never Happen Now as it Did Then

Published

5 years ago

June 20, 2019

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Dr. Margaret Goodman, the Las Vegas-based neurologist and former chief ringside physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, has never seen the tape of the first of three Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson fights, which took place on June 26, 1959, in Yankee Stadium. But she has heard the details of the remarkable third round of that heavyweight championship bout and, as a tireless crusader for increased safety in boxing, she never does want to see it.

The mere idea of Patterson, the about-to-be-dethroned champ, being floored seven times in a single round, and clearly discombobulated after the first of those floorings, is enough to make the good doctor, recipient of the 2016 Boxing Writers Association of America’s Barney Nagler Award for long and meritorious service to the sport, cringe.

“Seven knockdowns in one round are obviously excessive,” she said. “Thank goodness times have changed, but I still see some fights now that I think should have been stopped a lot earlier. (Anthony) Joshua was knocked down four times against (Andy) Ruiz and he was quoted as saying he didn’t remember what happened after the second knockdown, or maybe it was the third.

“The standard for the way things were handled back then (1959) were different. There was a greater likelihood of allowing a fighter to continue taking that kind of punishment. How horrible is that?

“Is boxing safer today? I think maybe it is in some ways. Maybe we’re just more aware of what’s going on. I do wish fighters were evaluated more closely. And it’s not just the number of knockdowns that matter; one knockdown can be just as much of a concern in some instances. And so much depends on other factors. What is a fighter’s prefight history? Was he taking multiple shots in the gym that went unrecognized that might have contributed to his being knocked down more readily in an actual fight? Then there’s hereditary factors, genetic factors. There are a lot of questions that aren’t always answered. I’d much rather see a fighter quickly knocked out than to suffer blow after blow after blow to the head.”

This story was to have been a simple look back at a classic fight that is fast approaching its 60-year anniversary. Johansson – Sweden’s once-disgraced heavyweight silver medalist at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics – would ride the momentum of those seven knockdowns, squeezed into just 123 elapsed seconds of round three, into one of the most bountiful hauls of honors any fighter has ever received for a single performance. The handsome, charming 26-year-old, dubbed “boxing’s Cary Grant” by one publication, would be awarded the Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of 1959 as well as being named Associated Press Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. His smiling face appeared on the covers of SI and Life magazines, the latter also adorned by Ingo’s smokin’ hot Swedish girlfriend, Birgit Lundgren. Johansson also snagged a role in a Hollywood movie, 1960’s All the Young Men, in which he played a U.S. Marine during the Korean War, albeit one with a distinctly Scandinavian accent, in support of leads Alan Ladd and Sidney Poitier.

There would be no such high-profile victory tour for the vanquished Patterson, but he would get the better of Johansson in two subsequent bouts, each by knockout. And although both men would go on to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Patterson in 1991 and Johansson in 2002, the consensus among historians of the sport is that neither was as accomplished enough a heavyweight to be considered among the division’s all-time best. Patterson, a quiet and dignified gentleman outside the ring, and Ingo, the international bon vivant, were probably fortunate to have found each other during a comparatively fallow period for big-man boxing.

But one person’s snack is another’s feast, and especially so if the feaster is an 11-year-old boy whose dad, a former pro welterweight, was treating his only son to his first fight telecast at a closed-circuit venue, then the cutting edge of late 1950s technology. Instead of watching Patterson-Johansson at home on a small black-and-white television with a blurry screen, I got to see it in New Orleans’ magnificent Saenger Theater, in black-and-white on a much larger, blurry screen. When it was over and Ingo anointed as the new king of the heavyweights, the love affair I already had with boxing, which began years earlier with Friday night telecasts of the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, had deepened into what would become a life-long obsession.

The way a child looks at something, however, often differs from the way an adult does, and maybe even more so when your grown-up self is a veteran sports reporter who is paid to look beyond the surface to discern some greater truth, if there is one. The adrenaline rush I got at 11 from seeing seven quick knockdowns has since been tempered by asking myself the type of questions Dr. Goodman wishes would be asked and answered before any fighter steps inside the ropes.

Was Ruby Goldstein, then 51 and a former fighter who was one of high-level boxing’s most distinguished referees, remiss for allowing a dazed and stumbling Patterson to keep being battered as if he were a human piñata? By today’s more stringent safety standards, absolutely. Johansson was a fighter of relatively limited skills, but he was possessed of an overhand right so powerful that it bore three nicknames – the “Hammer of Thor,” “Ingo’s Bingo” and, when spoken in English coated by Johansson’s Swedish accent, “Toonder and Lightning,” the toonder a reference to thunder. When the challenger came straight down the pike with that three-headed monster of a right and it landed flush to the jaw, Patterson went down as he were a ship at port’s dropped anchor.

Floyd beat the count, but he was so hurt and flummoxed that he thought the round was over. He turned to scuffle back to his corner, presenting the opportunity for Johansson to run up alongside him and score knockdown No 2 with an uncontested left hook to the side of the head, followed up by a right to the back of the head. After that the fight resembled a basketball game, with Ingo making like Boston Celtics guard Bob Cousy and bouncing Patterson up and down off the canvas. This went on until even Goldstein had seen enough and waved off the massacre after an elapsed time of 2 minutes, 3 seconds.

It should be noted that Goldstein, a 1994 inductee into the IBHOF, was the referee for the March 24, 1962, death match in which Benny “Kid” Paret, hung up on the ropes in the 12th round, was pummeled into unconsciousness by Emile Griffith’s blistering, two-handed attack. He remained in a coma until his death 10 days later. Goldstein, remorseful that he was slow to react to Paret’s fast-worsening circumstances, never again served as the third man in the ring. I wonder if, in retrospect, he had misgivings about allowing the third round of Patterson-Johansson I to continue past a point when it was obvious to everyone, even an 11-year-old boy in a movie theater in New Orleans, that the champion had nothing left to give, much less any hope of mounting a miraculous comeback.

You also wonder whether Patterson and Johansson, if they could have peered into the future and seen how their lives would eventually play out, would still have chosen to make their mark in a blood sport that demands so much, and sometimes all, of its participants. Probably they would have; asked the same question, Muhammad Ali, his voice all but stilled by Parkinson’s Syndrome, said he wouldn’t have changed anything about a life lived larger than most people could ever imagine. Told once that he held the dubious record of being knocked down 17 times in heavyweight title bouts, nine of those coming against Johansson, Patterson said, “That’s true, but I also hold the record for getting up the most times.”

Floyd Patterson was 71 when he passed away on May 11, 2006, in New Paltz, N.Y. A two-term head of the New York State Athletic Commission, he resigned that post years earlier when subordinates began to notice that their boss could no longer remember the name of his secretary, or even that of his wife. Alzheimer’s disease had had the chilling effect of erasing most of his memories even before prostate cancer served to hasten the 10-count he never received from the recalcitrant Goldstein that fateful summer night in 1959.

Johansson’s death, at 76 on Jan. 30, 2009, in a nursing home in Kungsbacka, Sweden, mirrored that of his onetime arch-rival. Like Patterson, he spent his earthly championship rounds in a sort of netherworld, slipping ever deeper into the dark cave of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Ingo was too ill to attend his IBHOF induction, and he was two years gone when his hometown of Gothenburg unveiled a statue of him in 2011, outside the Ullevi stadium where, on Sept. 14, 1958, he had earned the shot at Patterson’s title by scoring a first-round knockout of highly ranked American contender Eddie Machen, before 53,615 screaming Swedes.

It is a testament to the unifying bonds of boxing that two men who had taken each other to hell and back could later become fast friends, forever to be linked in death as they for so long were linked in life. That is not always the case, of course, but then almost from the beginning Floyd and Ingo seemed to recognize that they were more alike than different, two sides of the same coin, too similar in many ways to be separated by skin color, lifestyle or an ocean.

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Remembering the Macho Man, Hector Camacho, a Great Sporting Character

Published

1 day ago

November 23, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Twelve years ago tomorrow, on Nov. 24, 2012, Hector Camacho was officially declared dead. He was effectively dead before then, having suffered a heart attack in the hospital after his spinal cord had been severed by a bullet, but his attendants at the hospital in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, waited until his mother had arrived from New York to remove him from life support.

At the age of 50, one of the most charismatic personalities in the sporting life of America was silenced forever.

Hector “Macho” Camacho, the Macho Man, was flamboyant – boy was he ever – but he was also a great talent. A three-time New York City Golden Gloves champion, reputedly 96-4 as an amateur, he was undefeated in 31 bouts at 135 pounds and below and went on to conquer some of the sport’s biggest names – Boom Boom Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Roberto Duran (twice), Sugar Ray Leonard – before the sun set on his long career.

Camacho was born in Bayamon but grew up in Spanish Harlem where his mother moved when he was four. He was 21 years old and 21-0 as a junior lightweight when he was first profiled in Sports Illustrated, then the best medium for enhancing the marketability of a young athlete. At this juncture in his life, Hector, who became a father at age 17, was still living in a Spanish Harlem housing project, sharing an apartment with his 38-year-old mother, his stepfather, three siblings, a niece and a nephew.

By then he had already been expelled from six schools and was no stranger to the legal system, having spent 3 ½ months at New York’s notorious Rikers Island for — as Pat Putnam phrased it — borrowing other people’s automobiles without their permission.

The story in S.I. noted that Camacho’s reflexes were so quick that he could play two video games at once. Among his many physical attributes, it was his hand speed that attracted the most attention. When he ramped up his offense, his fists were a blur. But eventually, when folks thought of Camacho, what they remembered was his choirboy face with the spit curl in the middle of his forehead and his outrageous ring costumes which ran the gamut from a loincloth to a dress.

Hot-dogging came natural to Hector Camacho; it was embedded in his DNA. And in common with Muhammad Ali, he could be arrogant without coming across as arrogant. There was an impish quality to his bravado. He was fun to be around and, in his own words, could light up a room like a Christmas tree.

What Camacho lacked was any capacity for embarrassment.

Former WBA super bantamweight champion Clarence “Bones” Adams, who is now the proprietor of a Las Vegas gym that bears his name, became fast friends with the Macho Man when both trained in Las Vegas, the host city for their most lucrative fights. Mention Camacho’s name to Adams and a smile creases his face if he doesn’t burst out laughing.

“One day after Hector and I had gone jogging,” recollects Adams, “we drove over to the old White Cross Drugs [on the north Strip near the Stratosphere] to grab a bite to eat at their lunch counter. When we left and were standing outside by the car, Hector said, ‘Hold on a minute, I have to go pee.’ I said I’ll wait for you but then I noticed he was already peeing. Some cars honked as they passed by.

“Greg Hannely, my manager at the time, and I went to Detroit in 2000 to support Hector who was on the undercard of a show featuring Thomas Hearns. At the weigh-in, Hector wore a long shirt with nothing underneath it. This wasn’t apparent until he stepped off the scale and started doing jumping jacks.

“Hector,” continues Adams, “once had a Ferrari that he misplaced; he couldn’t remember where he parked it. He never did recover that car, but he wasn’t too bothered by it. His attitude was, ‘there’s always more where it came from.’” (Presumably this was the same Ferrari that Camacho was driving when he was ticketed for driving too slow with a suspended license on a Florida highway while being pleasured by a woman sitting astride him.)

Historians would compartmentalize Camacho’s career into two segments. Part One ended with his successful lightweight title defense against Edwin Rosario at Madison Square Garden on June 13, 1986.

Camacho kept his undefeated record intact, prevailing on a split decision, but ended the fight looking as if he had taken all the worst of it. Badly hurt in the fifth round and again in the 11^th, he repaired to his dressing room with a swollen nose and two black eyes.

This fight, reads a story in a Canadian paper, “persuaded him to scale back his ultra-aggressive style in favor of a more cerebral, defensive approach.” That’s a diplomatic way of saying that Camacho devolved into a runner.

In his next fight, Camacho proved too clever for Cornelius Boza-Edwards, winning a unanimous decision, but the crowd didn’t like it when Hector spent the last two rounds on his bicycle and there were boos aplenty as the match wended to its conclusion. This would be the Macho Man’s final fight as a lightweight. He moved up to 140 where a slew of attractive match-ups awaited, notably a showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez.

Camacho and Chavez touched gloves in Las Vegas on Sept. 13, 1992, before an announced crowd of 19,100 at the UNLV basketball arena in what reportedly was the fastest sellout in Las Vegas boxing history up to that date. Chavez, widely seen as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, advanced his record to 82-0 with a lopsided decision, winning all 12 rounds on the card of one of the judges. The Macho Man, who had avenged his lone defeat to Greg Haugen, declined to 41-2.

This wasn’t a milquetoast performance by Camacho. He simply couldn’t deal with Chavez’s unrelenting pressure. LA Times scribe Alan Malamud wrote that Hector showed unexpected grit by trading with Chavez after his legs were gone, thereby reducing him to a stationary target. But more brickbats came Camacho’s way following setbacks to Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. He lasted the distance in both bouts but was roundly out-pointed. By the third round of the De La Hoya fight, wrote Kevin Iole, it was a foregone conclusion that De La Hoya would win.

Between the Trinidad and De La Hoya fights, staged 44 months apart, Camacho had 21 fights and won them all. His victims were mostly journeyman with two notable exceptions. On June 22, 1996, he scored a 12-round unanimous decision over 45-year-old Roberto Duran. Eight months later, he defeated another faded legend when he stopped Sugar Ray Leonard in the fifth round. Leonard, who had been out of the ring for six years, was forever retiring and unretiring and Camacho retired him for good. Both bouts were in Atlantic City.

A wag wrote that Sugar Ray was 40 years old going on 41 and that Camacho was 35 years old going on puberty.

Camacho’s advisors kept him busy to keep his name in the news and Hector did his part by making the news for bad behavior outside the ring. In January of 2005, he was arrested for the November 2004 burglary of a computer store in Gulfport, Mississippi. He went there to retrieve a laptop that was being repaired but entered the property after hours by way of the ceiling. An illegal drug, ecstasy, was found in his hotel room when he was placed under arrest.

After serving five months in jail, Camacho was released with the understanding that he would be placed under house arrest for one year when he returned to Puerto Rico but, by all accounts, the authorities in Puerto Rico were never notified of this arrangement.

Camacho’s frequent misdeeds, once seen as the amusing antics of a fun-loving man-child, came to be seen in a different light as he grew older; as a pattern of behavior that betrayed a dark side in his personality.

In a 1985 conversation with New York Times boxing writer Michael Katz, Camacho’s estranged manager Billy Giles said, “someday he’ll wind up like Tyrone Everett, maybe worse,” the reference to a talented junior lightweight from Philadelphia who was murdered under sordid circumstances.

That proved to be eerily prophetic.

Camacho had 20 more fights after his hollow performance against Oscar De La Hoya, ending his career as a bloated middleweight. His only noteworthy opponent during this final phase of his boxing career was Duran who was then 50 years old when they clashed in Denver. In a bout that echoed their first meeting, Hector won a unanimous decision. This was Roberto Duran’s farewell fight. Camacho soldiered on for eight more bouts, winning five.

In November of 2012, thirty months after his last ring assignment, Hector Camacho and a companion were ambushed as they sat in a car in the darkened parking lot of a Bayamon, Puerto Rico bar. The companion died instantly in the hail of bullets. Police found nine packets of cocaine on the decedent and an open packet of cocaine in the car.

Camacho’’s funeral was held at Harlem’s landmark Saint Cecilia’s Church. Hundreds of mourners stood in the cold outside the church as his casket was being placed in the funeral car. They cheered and shouted Camacho’s battle cry, “Macho Time,” as the hearse pulled away.

They say you shouldn’t speak bad about the dead, so we will let Bones Adams have the last word. “Hector had his demons,” says Adams, “but he was a great friend, a nice, kind, and caring guy.”

—

Editor’s note: For more on Hector Camacho, check out Christian Giudice’s biography, “Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho,” published by Hamilcar in 2020.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 304: A Year of Transformation in Boxing and More

Published

2 days ago

November 22, 2024

David A. Avila

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A subtle transformation in professional boxing is taking place with the biggest fights no longer placed in Las Vegas, New York or Los Angeles. Instead, they are heading to the Middle East.

Golden Boy Promotions joined the crowd last week with one of their stronger fight cards taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main attractions were new unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez of Mexico along with Puerto Rico’s diminutive Oscar Collazo unifying the minimumweight division.

And there is more to come.

Matchroom Boxing seemed to lead the way in this rerouting of major boxing events. It goes as far back as December 2019 when Anthony Joshua fought Andy Ruiz in a rematch for the heavyweight championship in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Little by little major fights are being rerouted to Saudi Arabia.

Is it a good thing or not?

For promoters looking to cut costs it’s definitely welcomed. But what does it do for the fan base accustomed to saving their money to buy tickets for one or two major events?

Now there is talk of Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney and Terence Crawford heading to the Middle East to fight on major cards sponsored by “Riyad Spring.” It’s a new avenue for the sport of pro boxing.

This past week Golden Boy and its roster of Latino fighters took its turn and showed off their brand of aggressive fights. Some like Collazo and Arnold Barboza made the best of their moments. And, of course, Zurdo proved he should have moved up in weight years ago. He could be the Comeback Fighter of the Year.

Benavidez vs Morrell

Interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez accepted a challenge from WBA light heavyweight titlist David Morrell to meet on Feb. 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Bad blood between the two tall fighters already exists.

Morrell claims Benavidez is over-rated.

“I’m getting the knockout. 100%. He’s all talk and no bite. He can’t do what he thinks he’s gonna do,” said Morrell. “He has no idea what he’s talking about, but he’s provoking me and now I want to go out there and beat the crap out of him. I’m here now and none of that talk matters.”

Benavidez begs to differ.

“Here we are again. I told you that I was going to give you the fights you want to see, and now we’re here,” Benavidez said while in Los Angeles. “Morrell has been talking about me for a while and disrespecting me. He wanted to make it personal with me, so I’m personally going to break his mouth. That’ll give him something to remember me by.”

Also scheduled to fight on the fight card are Isaac Cruz, Stephen Fulton, Brandon Figueroa and Jesus Ramos Jr.

Netflix

No surprise for me with the massive success of the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson event on the Most Valuable Promotions boxing card last week.

According to Netflix there were 108 million people tuned into the event last Friday that also featured the incredible Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor rematch. Another exciting card was the men’s welterweight clash between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos that ended in a draw.

If fans weren’t satisfied with the Paul fight, they certainly got their fulfillment with the world title fights, especially Serrano and Taylor who were estimated to be viewed by more than 72 million people. No female fight in history can touch those numbers.

So, what’s next for Netflix in terms of boxing?

West Coast Blues

Southern California is usually a hotbed for boxing events no matter what time of the year. But this year only a few boxing cards are taking place within a driving distance until the end of the year.

Las Vegas is in slumber and Southern California has a few smaller boxing cards still on schedule. Arizona has a significant Top Rank fight card in a few weeks as does Golden Boy Promotions in the Inland Empire.

Here are some upcoming fight events worth noting:

Dec. 5 – at OC Hangar in Costa Mesa, Calif. Vlad Panin vs Sal Briceno by SOCA Fights.

Dec. 7 – at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Rafael Espinoza vs Robeisy Ramirez and Oscar Valdez vs Emanuel Navarrete by Top Rank.

Dec. 13, at Chumash Casino 360 in Santa Ynez, Calif. Carlos Balderas vs Cesar Villarraga by 360 Promotions.

Dec. 14 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. Alexis Rocha vs Raul Curiel by Golden Boy Promotions.

Turkeys in East L.A.

The 25^th annual Turkey Giveaway by Golden Boy takes place on Saturday Nov. 23, at Oscar De La Hoya Animo High School starting at 11 a.m.

It’s incredible that 25 years have passed since the inception of this yearly event. Many current and past fighters for the promotion company will be passing out turkeys and meeting fans. Among those expected to appear are Alexis Rocha, Victor Morales, Joel Iriarte, Bryan Lua and others.

Photo: Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, and HE Turki Alalshikh at the Joshua-Dubois fight

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Philly’s Jesse Hart Continues His Quest plus Thoughts on Tyson-Paul and ‘Boots’ Ennis

Published

3 days ago

November 21, 2024

Luis A. Cortes III

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Jesse Hart (31-3, 25 KOs) returns to the ring tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 22) on a Teflon Promotions card at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University. During a recent media workout for the show, which will feature five other local fighters in separate bouts, Hart was adamant that fighting for the second time this year at home will only help in his continuing quest to push towards a second chance at a world championship. “Fighting at home is always great and it just makes sense from a business standpoint since I already have a name in the sport and in the city,” said Hart (pictured on the left).

Hart’s view of where his career currently resides in relation to the landscape in the light heavyweight division leads you to believe that, at the age of 35, Hart is realistic about how far he can go before his career is over.

“Make good fights, win those fights, fight as much as I can and stay busy, that’s the way the light heavyweight division won’t be able to ignore me,” he says. Aside from two losses back in 2017 and 2018 to current unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez at super middleweight, Hart’s only other defeat was to Joe Smith during Smith’s most successful portion of his career.

When attempts to make fights with (at the time) up-and-coming prospects like Edgar Berlanga and David Benavidez were denied with Hart being viewed as the typical high risk-low reward opponent, it was time to find another way. So, Hart decided to stay local after splitting with Top Rank Promotions post-surgery to repair his longtime right-hand issues and hooked up with Teflon Promotions, an upstart company that is the latest to take on the noble endeavor of trying to return North Broad Street and Atlantic City to boxing prominence.

In essence, it is a calculated move that is potentially a win-win situation for all parties. Continued success for Hart along with some of the titles at light heavyweight eventually being released from Artur Beterbiev’s grasp due to outside politics, and Jesse Hart just may lift up Teflon Promotions into a major player on the regional scene.

Tickets for Friday’s show are available on Ticketmaster platforms.

As we entered November, a glance at the boxing schedule made me wonder if it was possible for the sport to have a memorable month — one that could shine a light forward in boxing’s ongoing quest to regain relevance in today’s sports landscape. Having consecutive weekends with events that could spark interest in the pugilistic artform and its wonderful characters was what I was hoping for, but what we got instead was more evidence that boxing isn’t immune to modern business practices landing a one-two punch on the action both inside and outside of the ring.

Jaron “Boots” Ennis was expected to make a statement in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzian on Nov. 9, a statement to put the elite level champions around his weight class on notice. What we witnessed, however, was more evidence of how current champions in their prime can be hampered by having to navigate a business that functions through the cooperation of independent contractors. Ennis got the job done – he won – but it was a lackluster performance.

It’s time for Ennis to fight the fighters we already thought we would have seen him fight by now and I do believe there is some truth to Ennis rising to the occasion if there was a more noteworthy name across the ring.

—

Some positives emerged from the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul event the following week. Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, and women’s boxing are finally getting the public recognition they deserve. Mario Barrios’s draw against the tough Abel Ramos, also on the Netflix broadcast, was an action-packed firefight. So, mainstream America and beyond got to witness actual fights before being subjected to Paul’s latest circus.

Unfortunately for fans, but fortunately for Paul, the lone true boxing star in the main event dimmed out from an athletic standpoint decades ago. In this instance modern business practices allowed for a social media influencer to stage his largest money grab from a completely unnuanced public.

As Paul rose to the ring apron from the steps and looked around “Jerry’s World,” taking in the moment, it reminded me of an actual fighter when they’re about to enter the ring taking in the atmosphere before they risk their lives after a lifetime of dedication to try and realize a childhood dream. In this case though, this was a natural-born hustler realizing as he made it to the ring apron that his hustle was likely having its moment of glory.

In boxing circles, Jake Paul is viewed as a “necessary evil.” What occurs in his fights are merely an afterthought to the spectacle that is at the core of the social media realm that birthed him. Hopefully the public learned from the atrocity that occurred once the exhibition started that smoke and mirrors last for only so long. Hopefully Paul’s moment of being a boxing performer and acting like a true fighter comes to its conclusion. But he isn’t going away anytime soon, especially since his promotional company is now in bed with Netflix.

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