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For Whom the Bell Tolled: 2019 Boxing Obituaries PART TWO
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The second half of 2019 was mottled by a particularly sorrowful July during which two fighters died from ring injuries suffered in fights staged one day apart. We pay tribute to them here in our annual year-end obituary page and toast the memory of other boxing personalities that left us this year. This is a continuation of Part One which covered January through May.
June 1 – J.T. ROSS – A World War II combat veteran, Ross, a tall middleweight, crammed 47 fights into a pro career that consumed less than five full years. He fought almost exclusively in central and northern California, but had his farewell fight in Madison Square Garden where he was stopped by Eugene “Silent” Hairston, reducing his final record to 41-5-2. At age 94 in Gilroy, CA.
June 8 – BILLY JOINER – He won the 1962 National Golden Gloves and AAU tournaments as a light heavyweight before turning pro under the management of George Gainford who also handled Sugar Ray Robinson. A small heavyweight, Joiner was only 12-13-3 as a pro, but he was matched tough, opposing Sonny Liston twice, Larry Holmes, and Oscar Bonavena in what would be Bonavena’s final fight. At age 81 in Springdale, OH.
June 22 – WILLIE MONROE – “Willie the Worm,” who turned pro at the Blue Horizon, stood tall in an era when Philadelphia was a hornet’s next of talented middleweights. In 1976 he outpointed Marvin Hagler and although Hagler would avenge that loss twice, Monroe would remain the only man to defeat Marvelous Marvin non-controversially. He finished 40-10-1 (26 KOs). At age 73 from complications of Alzheimer’s in the Philadelphia suburb of Sicklerville, NJ.
June 22 – EARL LARGE – The New Mexico featherweight was a regional attraction in the southwest and in Northern Mexico during a 12-year career in which he was 39-17-2. Before turning pro, Large, whose nickname was Soul Brother, was a national AAU and national Golden Gloves champion. At age 72 in Clovis, New Mexico.
July 14 – PERNELL WHITAKER – “Sweet Pea” breezed through the lightweight competition at the 1984 LA Olympics and went on to win world titles in four weight classes. One of the greatest defensive fighters in the annals of the sport, the crafty southpaw was 40-1-1 through his first 42 fights with both blemishes assailed as rip-offs. He was 55 when he was struck and killed by a vehicle while walking across a busy intersection in Virginia Beach, VA.
July 23 – MAXIM DADASHEV – A stablemate of Vasyl Lomachenko, Dadashev faced fellow unbeaten Subriel Matias at the MGM Grand National Harbor in Maryland on July 19 in a match billed for a 140-pound title eliminator. After 11 rounds, Dadashev insisted that he wanted to keep going but was overruled by his trainer Buddy McGirt who pulled him out. He left the arena in an ambulance and died four days later following emergency brain surgery. Laid to rest in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia, Dadashev was 28.
July 25 – HUGO ALFREDO SANTILLAN – The Argentine lightweight battled Uruguay’s Eduardo Abreu to a 10-round draw on July 20. As he was awaiting the decision, he passed out in the ring, fell into a coma, and died three days later at a hospital in Buenos Aires. A former South American super featherweight champion, Santillan (19-6-2) was 23 years old.
July 31 – BEAU WILLIFORD – A heavyweight, Williford didn’t go far as fighter, but became an important cog in the boxing apparatus — amateur and pro — from his base in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he ran the Ragin Cajun Boxing Club. He promoted dozens of small-budget shows up and down the Gulf Coast and into Oklahoma and was one of the most well-liked people in the industry. At age 69 (some say 72) in Lafayette.
Aug. 3 – JEAN CLAUDE BOUTTIER – A major celebrity in France during his boxing heyday, Bouttier compiled a record of 64-7-1 (43 KOs) during a 10-year career that began in 1965. He went 27 rounds with Carlos Monzon in two futile stabs at Monzon’s world middleweight title. In retirement, Bouttier worked as a movie actor and TV sports commentator. At age 74 in Gourney-sur-Marne, France.
Aug. 16 – JOSE NAPOLES – They said Napoles was as smooth as butter, hence his nickname, Mantequilla. He left Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power and came to the fore in Mexico City. Napoles was 15-2 in world welterweight title fights during an era when there were only two reputable sanctioning bodies. He finished his career with a mark of 81-7 (54 KOs) and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. At age 79 (or thereabouts) in Mexico City from complications of diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Aug. 24 – ARTHUR RAMALHO – He was called the patriarch of pugilism in Lowell, Massachusetts, a town with a rich boxing tradition. Ramalho’s West End Gym, which he opened in 1973, spawned numerous New England Golden Gloves champions and was featured in the movie “The Fighter,” wherein Mark Wahlberg portrayed Lowell boxing legend Micky Ward. At age 84 of lung cancer.
Oct. 9 – PADDY GRAHAM – Belfast’s Graham was 33-19-1 over the course of a 10-year career that began in 1953. A lightweight who matured into a welterweight, Graham’s opponents included Willie Toweel and future world title challenger Ted Wight. At age 87 of kidney failure in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Oct. 11 – ELOY PEREZ – Born in Mexico, Perez came to the U.S. as a toddler and grew up in largely rural Thurston County in the state of Washington. He suffered his lone defeat in what would be his final pro fight when he was stopped in the fourth round by defending WBO 130-pound champion Adrien Broner, finishing 23-1-2. Following a series of legal problems, he was deported to Mexico, dying in Tijuana at age 32. Some say a suicide and others say he was murdered.
Oct. 16 – PATRICK DAY – A 2012 U.S. Olympic Team alternate, Day suffered a traumatic head injury during the 10th round of a 10-round fight in Chicago with 2016 Olympian Charles Conwell and died four days later without regaining consciousness. Raised in a comfortable middle class home in Freeport, New York (his father was a physician), the extremely well-liked Day was 27 years old at the time of his passing.
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Patrick Day
Oct. 30 – DON FRASER – “Dandy Don,” who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005, was a major cog on the Southern California boxing scene for parts of eight decades during which he wore many hats, e.g., publicist, matchmaker, promoter. At age 92 of a sudden brain aneurism at his home in Toluca Lake, CA.
Nov. 9 – DWIGHT RITCHIE – An indigenous Australian from the state of Victoria, nicknamed the Fighting Cowboy, he collapsed after absorbing a body punch in a routine sparring session with Jack Brubaker and could not be revived. He finished 19-2 after coming up short vs Tim Tszyu in a ballyhooed fight for Australian 154-pound supremacy. Ritchie was 27.
Nov. 9 – ALAN RODRIGUES – After purchasing the Silver Nugget, a small North Las Vegas casino, Rodrigues converted the basement into a boxing pavilion and juiced up the club scene with shows featuring local talent such as a past-his-prime Roger Mayweather. He would later serve time in a federal correctional institution for telemarketing scams. At age 60 in Henderson, NV.
Nov. 13 – JAMES J. BEATTIE – The six-foot-nine Beattie, whose middle name was actually William, attracted a lot of buzz early in his career but a second loss to James J. Woody sent his stock plummeting. He finished with a mark of 40-10 (32 KOs) that included losses to world title challengers Buster Mathis, Leroy Jones, and Gopher State rival Scott LeDoux. Beattie portrayed Jess Willard in the movie “The Great White Hope.” At age 77 in New Brighton, Minnesota.
Dec. 17 – SAOUL MAMBY – Mamby, who grew up in the Bronx and served a tour of duty in Viet Nam, won the WBC super lightweight title in 1979 in Korea and successfully defended it five times, but would be best remembered as the greyest of boxing’s greybeards, having had his last pro fight at age 61. In a career that spanned five decades, Mamby was routinely matched tough, opposing 12 former or future world champions while building a record of 45-34-6. At age 72. Details are vague.
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Cain Sandoval KOs Mark Bernaldez in the Featured Bout at Santa Ynez
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Northern California’s Cain Sandoval remained undefeated with a knockout win over Mark Bernaldez in a super lightweight battle on Friday on a 360 Promotions card.
Sandoval (15-0, 13 KOs) of Sacramento needed four rounds to figure out tough Filipino fighter Bernaldez (25-7, 14 KOs) in front of a packed crowd at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez.
Bernaldez had gone eight rounds against Mexico’s very tough Oscar Duarte. He showed no fear for Sandoval’s reputed power and both fired bombs at each other from the second round on.
Things turned in favor of Sandoval when he targeted the body and soon had Bernaldez in retreat. It was apparent Sandoval had discovered a weakness.
In the beginning of the fourth Sandoval fired a stiff jab to the body that buckled Bernaldez but he did not go down. And when both resumed in firing position Sandoval connected with an overhand right and down went the Filipino fighter. He was counted out by referee Rudy Barragan at 34 seconds of the round.
“I’m surprised he took my jab to the body. I respect that. I have a knockout and I’m happy about that,” Sandoval said.
Other Bouts
Popular female fighter Lupe Medina (9-0) remained undefeated with a solid victory over the determined Agustina Vazquez (4-3-2) by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a minimumweight fight between Southern Californians.
Early on Vazquez gave Medina trouble disrupting her patter with solid jabs. And when Medina overloaded with combination punches, she was laced with counters from Vazquez during the first four rounds.
Things turned around in the fifth round as Medina used a jab to keep Vazquez at a preferred distance. And when she attacked it was no more than two-punch combination and maintaining a distance.
Vazquez proved determined but discovered clinching was not a good idea as Medina took advantage and overran her with blows. Still, Vazquez looked solid. All three judges saw it 79-73 for Medina.
A battle between Southern Californian’s saw Compton’s Christopher Rios (11-2) put on the pressure all eight rounds against Eastvale’s Daniel Barrera (8-1-1) and emerged the winner by majority decision in a flyweight battle.
It was Barrera’s first loss as a pro. He never could discover how to stay off the ropes and that proved his downfall. Neither fighter was knocked down but one judge saw it 76-76, and two others 79-73 for Rios.
In a welterweight fight Gor Yeritsyan (20-1,16 KOs) scorched Luis Ramos (23-7) with a 12-punch combination the sent him to the mat in the second round. After Ramos beat the count he was met with an eight punch volley and the fight was stopped at 2:11 of the second round by knockout.
Super feather prospect Abel Mejia (7-0, 5 KOs) floored Alfredo Diaz (9-12) in the fifth round but found the Mexican fighter to be very durable in their six-round fight. Mejia caught Diaz with a left hook in the fifth round for a knockdown. But the fight resumed with all three judges scoring it 60-53 for Mejia who fights out of El Modena, Calif.
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The Return of David Alaverdian
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By TSS Special Correspondent David Harazduk — After David Alaverdian (8-0-1, 6 KOs) scored a gritty victory against a tough Nicaraguan journeyman named Enrique Irias, his plans suddenly changed. The flashy flyweight from Nahariya, Israel hoped to face even tougher opposition and then challenge for a world title within a year or so. But a prolonged illness forced David to rip up the script.
The Irias fight was over 22 months ago. On Saturday, Feb. 22, Alaverdian will be making his first appearance in the ring since that win when he faces veteran road warrior Josue “Zurdo” Morales (31-16-4, 13 KOs) at the Westgate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It’s the fifth promotion by Las Vegas attorney Stephen Reid whose inaugural card was at this venue on Feb. 13, 2020.
“I’m excited to come back,” Alaverdian declared.
During his preparation for Irias two years ago, Alaverdian felt fatigue after a routine six-round sparring session. “It was on April 1, 2023, about ten days before my fight. It felt like an April Fool’s joke,” he said. He came down with a sore throat, a headache, and congestion. He soon developed trouble breathing. At first, he thought his seasonal asthma had flared up, but his condition soon worsened. No matter what he did, Alaverdian could no longer take deep breaths. Fatigue continued to plague him. His heart constantly raced. Instead of breathing from his diaphragm, he was breathing from his chest. He sought out numerous doctors in the United States and in Israel.
His symptoms were finally diagnosed as Dysfunctional Breathing (DB). DB is a condition that can stem from stress and is often misdiagnosed. Its symptoms include dyspnea and tachycardia, both of which David experienced.
While receiving treatment, the Vegas-based pro went back to Israel where he coached aspiring fighters. “David’s influence on Israeli boxing is amazing, because he shows we can succeed in a big business even though we come from a small country,” said another undefeated Israeli flyweight, 20-year-old Yonatan Landman (7-0, 7 KOs). “A lot more Israelis are going to dare to succeed.”
Landman was able to work with Alaverdian during David’s return to Israel. “He is a great guy and a friend,” Landman said. “He has a lot of willingness to help, share his knowledge, and help you move forward.”
Alaverdian finally started to feel like he could compete again eight months ago. He won last year’s Israeli national amateur championship and competed in Olympic qualifiers. Now, he’s preparing to fight as a professional once again. “He doesn’t mention anything about [his breathing issues] like he did before,” his coach Cedric Ferguson said about this camp. “He’s been working like there’s no issue at all.”
It has been a whirlwind week for the 31-year-old Alaverdian. In addition to putting the finishing touches on his preparation ahead of Saturday’s comeback fight, David got married on Tuesday. His mom came over from Israel for the wedding and will stay for the fight. “It’s a good distraction,” David said of this week’s significant events. “It helps me. That way I don’t have to focus on the fight all day.”
Josue Morales, a 32 year old from Houston, hopes to play spoiler on Saturday. The crafty southpaw has never been stopped during his 52-fight career. “He’s a seasoned guy with a lot of experience,” Alaverdian said of Morales. “He knows how to move around the ring and is more of a technical boxer. He’s a tough opponent for someone who has been out of the ring for two years.”
A win Saturday night would complete a monumental week for David Alaverdian, both in and out of the ring, repairing the once-shredded script.
Doors open at the Westgate fight arena at 6:30 pm. The first bout goes at 7:00. Seven fights are scheduled including an 8-round female fight between Las Vegas light flyweight Yadira Bustillos and Argentine veteran Tamara Demarco.
NOTE: Author David Harazduk has run The Jewish Boxing Blog since 2010. You can find him at Twitter/X @JewishBoxing and Instagram.
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Two Candidates for the Greatest Fight Card in Boxing History
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Two Candidates for the Greatest Fight Card in Boxing History
Saturday’s fight card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, topped by the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for undisputed light heavyweight supremacy, was being hyped as the greatest boxing card ever. That was before Daniel Dubois took ill and had to pull out of his IBF world heavyweight title defense against Joseph Parker, yielding his slot to last-minute replacement Martin Bakole.
The view from here is that the card remains in the running for the best fight card ever, top to bottom. The public didn’t view Dubois as the legitimate heavyweight champion. That distinction goes to Oleksandr Usyk.
Terms like “greatest” are, of course, subjective. Are we referring to the most attractive match-ups or the greatest array of talent, or the card that gives the most satisfaction by churning out a multiplicity of entertaining fights?
We won’t know how satisfying this card is until after the fact. We won’t know whether the talent on display was the greatest ever assembled on one night until many years have passed. Contestants such as Shakur Stevenson, Vergil Ortiz Jr, and Hamzah Sheeraz are still in their twenties (Stevenson is the oldest of the three at age 27) and it’s too soon to gauge if they will leave the sport with a great legacy.
As for which fight card in history had the deepest pool of attractive match-ups, this is a query that is amenable to an operational definition. Betting lines are a useful tool for informing us whether or not a fight warrants our attention if the likelihood of witnessing a closely-contested bout is our primary consideration.
Based on these factors, I would submit that the current leader in the race for the best card ever assembled goes to Don King’s May 7, 1994 promotion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Six future Hall of Famers – Julio Cesar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Azumah Nelson, Terry Norris, Julian Jackson, and Christy Martin — were on that card, an 11-fight, eight-hour marathon with five WBC world title fights, four of which were rematches.
These were the five title fights:
140 pounds: Julio Cesar Chavez (89-1-1, 77 KOs) vs. Frankie Randall (49-2-1, 39 KOs)
Odds: Chavez 3/1 (minus-300)
154 pounds: Terry Norris (37-4, 23 KOs) vs. Simon Brown (41-2, 30 KOs)
Odds: even (11/10 and take your pick)
160 pounds: Gerald McClellan (30-2, 28 KOs) vs. Julian Jackson (48-2, 45 KOs)
Odds: McClellan 7/2 (minus-350)
130 pounds: Azumah Nelson (37-2-2, 26 KOs) vs. Jesse James Leija (27-0-2, 13 KOs)
Odds: Nelson 17/10 (minus-170)
105 pounds: Ricardo Lopez (36-0, 27 KOs) vs. Kermin Guardia (21-0, 14 KOs)
Odds: none
Results
Chavez-Randall — Julio Cesar Chavez avenged his loss to Frankie Randall, but not without controversy. An accidental clash of heads in the eighth round left Chavez with a bad gash on his forehead. Ring physician Flip Homansky would have allowed the bout to continue if that had been Chavez’s preference, but El Gran Campeon wasn’t so inclined. A WBC rule specified that in the event of a significant injury accruing from an accidental head butt, the less-damaged fighter is penalized a point. The fight went to the scorecards where Chavez won a split decision that would have been a draw without the point deduction. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Chavez, but the big bets were mostly on Randall and the odds got nicked down on the day of the fight.
Brown-Norris — In their first meeting in December of the previous year, Simon Brown dominated Terry Norris from the opening bell before stopping him in the fourth round. It was a massive upset. Norris was in the conversation for the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. In the rematch, Norris opened a slight favorite, but the late money was on Brown. And, once again, the so-called “sharps” were on the wrong side. Terry Norris, the would-be avenger, won a comfortable decision.
McClellan-Jackson — A murderous puncher, Gerald McClellan bombed out Julian Jackson in 83 seconds, or four rounds quicker than in their first engagement. Jackson was also a murderous puncher and attracted money in the sports books, lowering the price on the victorious McClellan who yet remained a solid favorite.
Nelson-Leija – WBC President Jose Sulaiman mandated this rematch after the first meeting ended in a draw after an error was found in the tabulation of one of the scorecards, overturning the original verdict which had Nelson retaining his title on a split decision. Leija thought he was robbed and was the rightful winner in the do-over, outworking Nelson to win a unanimous decision. At age 35, Azumah was getting long in the tooth.
Lopez-Guardia – Before the digital age, bookmakers didn’t trifle to post lines on bouts that on paper were egregious mismatches, save perhaps a fight of great magnitude. Guardia, the Colombian challenger, overachieved by lasting the distance in a fight with no knockdowns, but “Finito” won a lopsided decision.
A Note on Odds
Betting lines serve a useful purpose for boxing historians; they quantify the magnitude of an upset. However, quoting odds is tricky because they are fluid and vary somewhat from place to place. What this means is that two journalists can quote different odds on the same event and they both can get it right – unless there is a significant disparity. The odds quoted above are the closing lines at the MGM Grand or, at the very least, a very close approximation.
Saturday in Riyadh
One reason why tomorrow’s fight card is the best ever, said the tub-thumpers, is that the card (in its original conformation) included seven world title fights. But that’s no big deal There are so many title fights nowadays that the term “world title” has been trivialized. And what wasn’t acknowledged is that three of the title fights were of the “interim” stripe.
However – and this is a big deal — a glance at the odds informs us that tomorrow’s card is chock-full of competitive match-ups (at least on paper) and from that aspect, a blend of quality and quantity, it is a doozy of a boxing card.
The greatest boxing linemaker of my generation, now deceased, once told me that any fight where the “chalk” was less than a 3/1 favorite is essentially a “pick-‘em” fight. Yes, I know that makes no sense mathematically. However, I know what he was getting at. In a baseball game, for example, it’s very rare to find a team favored by odds of more than 3/1. In boxing, where self-serving promoters are constantly feeding us King Kong vs. Mickey Mouse, odds higher than 3/1 are the norm.
As this is being written, there are six fights on Saturday’s card where one could play the favorite without laying more than 3/1. I believe this is unprecedented. Moreover, the main event and a fascinating match-up on the undercard, Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov, are virtual toss-ups with the favorites, Beterbiev and Ortiz, currently available at 5/4 (minus-125). Another very intriguing fight is the heavyweight contest between late bloomers Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang which finds the less-heralded Kabayel cloaked as a small favorite. And kudos to Joseph Parker for accepting Martin Bakole when he could have held out for a lesser opponent. If Bakole is in shape (a big “if”), he will be a handful.
And so, where does tomorrow’s card rank on the list of best boxing cards ever? Right up there near the top, we would argue, and, if the bouts in large part are memorably entertaining, we would push it ahead of Don King’s May 7, 1994 extravaganza.
That’s the view from here. Feel free to dissent.
Postscript: If you plan to watch the entire card ($25.99 on DAZN for U.S. buyers), it would help to stock up on some munchies. The first fight (Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith) is scheduled to kick off at 8:45 a.m. for us viewers in the Pacific Time Zone / 11:45 a.m. ET. If the show adheres tight to its schedule (no guarantee), Beterbiev and Bivol are expected to enter the ring at 3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET.
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