A New Book Publishing House Devoted to Boxing Clocks in with a Classic

Published

6 years ago

July 24, 2019

A New Book Publishing House Devoted to Boxing Clocks in with a Classic

It goes without saying that these are perilous times for the print media industry. It wasn’t long ago that one could walk through an airport and find most folks sitting in the waiting rooms devouring a magazine, a book or a newspaper. Nowadays they are glued to their electronic device.

Many of America’s grand old book publishing houses have disappeared. They either closed down or, more likely, were swallowed up by one of the Big 5 (HarperCollins, Macmillan, Hatchette, Penguin Random House, and Simon and Schuster). But the publishing industry is far from dead. Vanity presses never went away and there has actually been a sharp surge in the number of niche publishers, a development fueled in large part by lower production costs.

Among the newbies is Hamilcar Publications, a small press in Boston that specializes in boxing. Their initial offering, released in October of last year, was a reissue of “Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story” by Candace Toft. Then came the big enchilada, the first U.S. edition of Donald McRae’s “Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing.” Now up to 552 pages with the addition of a new chapter, McRae’s opus, originally published in 1997, has been hailed as one of the best boxing books of all time. There are 12 more titles in various stages of development, three of which will be released this year.

Hamilcar Publications www.hamilcarpubs.com was co-founded by Kyle Sarofeen and Andy Komack, former classmates — they have known each other since eighth grade – in the little seaport town of Rockport, Massachusetts. They have complementary skill sets. Sarofeen spent 15 years in the book publishing business, working in various capacities for several of the largest firms in the Boston area. He’s familiar with what he calls the carpentry of book manufacturing, the process by which a manuscript is turned into a book. Andy Komack’s background is in marketing and advertising. He was formerly affiliated with DraftKings.

Since their early teens, Kyle and Andy have followed boxing religiously. Both were big fans of Marvin Hagler.

Sarofeen subsequently became a fan of James Toney. That eventually led to his hookup with Donald McRae, a prolific writer with varied interests who has authored several more boxing books plus books about pioneering heart surgeon Christiaan Bernard and the famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow, among others.

“Dark Trade” focuses on the boxing scene in the U.S. and the U.K. in the 1990s. McRae was granted unprecedented access to some of the leading fight personalities of the era and from these fraternizations he crafted deep and revealing profiles of such men as Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, Naseem Hamed, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Bob Arum and Don King. But he became particularly close to James Toney and Toney’s resourceful mother Sherry who started a successful pie-making business in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If this book were a movie, it would be an ensemble piece in which James “Lights Out” Toney emerges as the lead character.

Kyle Sarofeen sent an e-mail to Donald McRae and received a warm reply. “We hit it off right away,” says Kyle, a rapport spurred by their mutual admiration for James Toney. Sarofeen would learn that “Dark Trade,” originally published by Mainstream and then acquired by Simon and Schuster, had never been released in the United States which was odd as many of the scenes take place in the U.S., mostly against the backdrop of the Las Vegas Strip, an adult arcade that McRae writes about with delicious perceptions.

Sarofeen and McRae were in concordance that the book needed a new chapter. What McRae delivered was a 49-page tailpiece that includes profiles of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Tyson Fury, and Carl Frampton plus return visits with such notables as Mike Tyson, the inspirational Michael Watson and, inevitably, his great friend James Toney. The reunion was awkward. In his early interviews with the boxer, Toney, says McRae, spoke “with a drawling, almost mumbling swagger,” but yet with clarity and wit. Now the words that came out of his mouth “sounded muffled and slurred. It became impossible to ignore the damage done to him by twenty-five years in the professional ring.”

The first edition of “Dark Trade” had Evander Holyfield on the cover. The Hamilcar edition, it was agreed, needed Toney on the cover and an artist, Amanda Kelley, was commissioned to paint his portrait. It depicts Toney with a slick, dark green hoodie, a portion of which slinks down over his left eye. Underneath his stoicism is an undercurrent of menace.

For all his fistic achievements, James Toney, a surefire Hall of Famer, remains a cult figure. Folks with no interest in boxing can identify Evander Holyfield. It’s doubtful that James Toney’s name would ring a bell. “And that’s the difference between us and a big publishing house,” Sarofeen told me. “The big houses are generalists. They would never put a James Toney on the cover.”

“Dark Trade,” noted an astute reviewer, is best read in pieces. Unfortunately, there is no index, not that one would have expected one from a non-fiction book that reads like a series of novellas.

In the Pipeline

The next book off the Hamilcar conveyor belt is a re-issue of British boxing writer Kevin Mitchell’s 2009 “Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Garden, and the Golden Age of Boxing.” From that point on, the slate consists of previously unpublished works, starting with Don Stradley’s “Berserk,” a bio of Edwin Valero that Sarofeen calls a little masterpiece.

This will be a paperback that will be translated into Spanish for the Hispanic, Latino, and Argentine markets and will be the first salvo of a “Hamilcar Noir” series, a series of little books that cover the seamy side of boxing. Another book in the series, Patrick Connor’s “Shot at a Brothel,” is about the life of Oscar Bonavena. It has a tentative June 2020 release date. Also in the queue are works by Carlos Acevedo, Paul Zanon, Jimmy Tobin, Tris Dixon, Charles Farrell, Todd Snyder, and Christian Giudice among others.

A South Jersey native, fluent in Spanish, Giudice is best known for his biography of Roberto Duran, the template for the film “Hands of Stone.” The book, notes Kyle Sarofeen, sold considerably more in Great Britain than in the U.S. “That told us that something was going on (over there),” says Kyle, “in terms of the UK being a big market for us — which was something we expected but hadn’t recognized fully before then.”

Sarofeen is particularly enthused about Todd Snyder’s forthcoming book, a biography of Drew “Bundini” Brown, the street-wise Harlem curbstone philosopher who spent seven years with Sugar Ray Robinson before becoming Muhammad Ali’s loyal companion and hype man. Bundini is credited with giving Ali the line, “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee.” Some recognize Ali as America’s first rapper.

Sarofeen, who had written about Bundini and knew that there were many layers to the man, chose Todd Snyder to write the book. Snyder is familiar with boxing – his father, a West Virginia coal miner, ran a boxing gym – and familiar with the world of hip-hop. At Siena College where he is an assistant professor of English, Snyder teaches a class where hip-hop lyrics are analyzed as if they were poetry.

Sarofeen thinks that the Bundini book, slated for release in the late summer or early fall of 2020, will have crossover appeal. How does a librarian classify it? Should it be shelved with the boxing books, or in the American Studies section, or perhaps with the books on African-American history?

Starting a book publishing company in this day and age where many of the established firms are scrambling to stay relevant in the face of massive technological shifts, will strike many as quixotic. However, Kyle Sarofeen and Andy Komack started this venture with their eyes wide open and no illusions about getting rich quick. For them, Hamilcar is a labor of love, a way of enriching the impressive body of literature that girds their favorite sport.

We wish them well.

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Arne K. Lang

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Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

3 days ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

6 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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