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Words In, Words Out: This Fight Scribe’s Reading Guide
Words In, Words Out: This Fight Scribe’s Reading Guide
Happy New Year 2020 to the TSS community!
It’s hard to believe we’ve arrived at this point in the future. So many of yesterday’s top boxing writers and boxing media outlets are gone but not forgotten.
Wordsmiths like Pat Putnam and Joe Rein are no longer with us. The glory days of Max Boxing and other internet start-ups have passed. Newspaper writers like Boston’s own Ron Borges are harder and harder to access as print media recedes from view. It’s a new decade and my sights are set on the best of today.
As evidenced by their yearly haul of BWAA Bernie Awards, your choice to read and frequent The Sweet Science is smartly based on both quality AND quantity. This is a space where professional boxing journalism is still being done by real pros.
Thank you for being here.
My sincere thanks also to fellow writers Arne Lang, David Avila, Ted Sares, Kelsey McCarson—and the two Matts. You fellas have set a good example and you’ve set a standard for others like myself to follow.
Special congratulations to TSS colleagues Bernard Fernandez and Thomas Hauser for their recent, well-earned election to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota. To any true fistic journalist, BFern and Hauser (as they’re called) are the best examples of what to do and how to do it.
“There are two elements required to produce a quality boxing story,” explains Fernandez. “One is the writing. The other is the depth and accuracy of the reporting, the detail stuff. Thomas Hauser not only writes elegantly, demonstrating a mastery of the language, but he digs as deep as anyone to ensure that his copy includes every pertinent and verifiable bit of information.”
A very well-spoken boxer recently thanked me for the diligence I put into telling his story on TSS. I didn’t watch him train in the gym or spend any time with him in his dressing room before a big fight. But I did do my homework. I owe every fighter that much. It is the high bar set by new Hall of Famers Hauser and Fernandez that challenges me to write and report at their level.
There is a well-read soft-cover copy of Mr. Hauser’s famous book Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times in my bathroom in Maine. My favorite scene in Rocky Balboa is when Fernandez (playing himself) tells the panel on ESPN, including Bert Randolph Sugar, that Mason Dixon “never had to dig down to rally back” and that he doesn’t have a big enough shovel anyway.
Apparently, Fernandez wrote his own line of dialogue about that shovel and ad-libbed it into the 2006 film. The director liked it. “I facetiously asked if that would get me a screenwriting credit.”
THE WRITE STUFF
In 2018, only Boxing News and ESPN (led by investigative reporter Mark Kreigel) outdid The Sweet Science in the annual BWAA writing contest participated in by its members. The popular Boxing Scene tied TSS for third place.
No lightweight in the industry, Boxing Scene publishes respected writers such as Cliff Rold and Lyle Fitzsimmons but the hyper-busy website actively flips the notion of quality over quantity. Other news outlets finishing in the top ten included The Sporting News, RingTV (the online face of The Ring magazine), The Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, and Sports Illustrated.
If I’m not writing about boxing, I am reading about it. Or watching it. For every single word I write, a hundred or more must be read. Words in, words out, see? But where exactly do I find fighting words worth reading in 2020? Here are a few of my sources, laid bare for your examination.
The list is by no means exhaustive but it is an honest accounting of who I read where. These are the sites and writers I turn to when there’s nothing fresh to consume and digest on TSS.
Springs Toledo: This North End Bostonian is the best boxing writer in the world, word-for-word. I read Toledo wherever I can find him. His old-fashioned books are meticulously researched and flow like poetry. His columns and features are recognized with Bernie Awards year after year. An exceptional contributor at TSS and elsewhere, Toledo’s real baby is his boxing ratings program, the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board. I enjoy the site’s feedback page more than its top tens. It is here that Toledo answers his critics and tries to make sense of his decisions.
The Fight City: Appropriately based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, The Fight City online offers its readers a “literary edge that embraces this brutal, cruel, glorious, heartbreaking sport in all its facets.” Featuring bylines from Lee Wylie and Ralph E. Semein, the site updates frequently enough to keep me coming back looking for another insightful column or new quality feature. While I wait, I gladly take in their many Top Twelve lists and fleshed out historical flashbacks.
Ringside Seat: Boasting a murderers’ row of “old guard” fight writers including Nigel Collins, Steve Farhood, Ivan Goldman, Carlo Rotella, Don Stradley and Eric Raskin, Ringside Seat is an e-mag designed to “provide boxing fans with a product unlike any other currently available.” For six bucks you can download the latest issue or any one of their exquisitely designed eight back issues; all of which feature thoughtful cover art and the typical trappings of a magazine.
Hannibal Boxing: Joseph Santoliquito (current BWAA President) recently joined a packed staff of contributors that’s already loaded with heavy hitters like Carlos Acevedo, Tris Dixon, and Frank Lotierzo. Hannibal Boxing regulars Sean Nam and Jimmy Tobin are also excellent writers. Boston based Hamilcar Publications, the book publishing division of Hannibal Boxing, offers a line of boxing titles in print (a few of them were reviewed here) with several more forthcoming in 2020.
NYFights: This relatively new website of former TSS editor-in-chief Michael Woods placed fourth in the latest BWAA writing contest. I go there for the TalkBox podcasts with Woodsy & Guests but end up staying for the Commissioner’s Corner columns by New York State boxing icon Randy Gordon. Stick around a bit longer and you might develop a taste for their man on the streets John Gatling.
Honorable Mentions: The RingTV website ain’t what it used to be but I still enjoy the Travelin’ Man reports penned by one of the friendliest people in boxing, Lee Groves (pictured above). If friendly fun is all you’re really looking for, check out the reimagined Ring Magazine under creative editor-in-chief Douglas Fischer the next time you’re stuck at an airport or sitting in a Barnes & Noble. The retro covers and the cool content reflect his true love of the fight game. And with HBO Boxing gone but not forgotten, I don’t read as much Kieren Mulvaney as in years past, but what a writer.
Photo: 2020 IBHOF inductees Thomas Hauser and Bernard Fernandez flank BWAA president Joseph Santoliquito. Photo compliments of Joseph Santoliquito.
Boxing Writer Jeffrey Freeman grew up in the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1987, during the Marvelous career of Marvin Hagler. JFree then lived in Lowell, Mass during the best years of Irish Micky Ward’s illustrious career. A new member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a Bernie Award Winner in the Category of Feature Under 1500 Words, Freeman covers boxing for The Sweet Science in New England.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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