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The Hauser Report: From 9/11 to COVID-19

The Hauser Report: From 9/11 to COVID-19
Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins were supposed to fight at Madison Square Garden on September 15, 2001. Then 9/11 intervened. After Trinidad-Hopkins was postponed, I visited an empty Madison Square Garden on the night that would have been.
“Tonight was a perfect mid-September evening,” I wrote. “Clear skies, temperature in the low sixties, a hint of autumn in the air. No events were listed on the Garden marquee; just the digital image of an American flag at half-mast. This was to have been ‘ground zero’ tonight. Bernard Hopkins versus Felix Trinidad for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world. Screaming partisans had been expected to turn Madison Square Garden into a sea of red, white, and blue flags. Puerto Rican flags. A half-dozen uniformed New York City cops stood outside the employees entrance at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street. Other cops were sprinkled in and around Penn Station, which lies beneath the Garden. The main arena was dimly lit, its floor still covered with ice put in place for New York Rangers practices earlier this week. Eventually, things will return to normal in America, although the definition of ‘normal’ will change.”
I thought about that night this week. Fight cards were scheduled to be promoted by Top Rank at Madison Square Garden on March 14 and March 17. The first of these was to have featured U.S. Olympian Shakur Stevenson. The second – a St. Patrick’s Day special – would have been headlined by Irish Olympian Michael Conlan. Then COVID-19 (an acronym for “coronavirus disease 2019”) intervened.
The 1918 influenza pandemic, commonly referred to as the Spanish flu, infected an estimated 500 million people (roughly 25 percent of the world population at that time). No firm numbers are available, but it’s estimated that the illness was responsible for 50 million deaths.
The population of the United States in 1918 was 106 million. An estimated 670,000 Americans died as a consequence of contracting the Spanish flu. That’s equivalent to 2.1 million deaths in the United States today.
Most fatalities from influenza occur in infants under the age of two and adults over age 70. The Spanish flu was unique in that almost half of the 670,000 deaths in the United States were of men and women between the ages of 20 and 40.
Most viruses abate during the warm summer months. The 1918 Spanish flu came in two waves. The second wave, which swept over America in October, was deadlier than the first.
The first cases of COVID-19 were traced to China in November 2019. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization formally classified the spread of the disease as a “pandemic.” As of this writing (March 14), more than 145,000 cases in 130 countries resulting in 5,400 deaths have been confirmed. That’s a death rate of 3.7 percent as compared to the one-tenth of one percent death rate for more common forms of influenza.
There have been more than 2,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 56 deaths in the United States.
All of these numbers are expected to rise.
Efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in travel restrictions, the quarantine of geographic regions, event cancellations, and the shutdown of businesses. Schools and other institutions have closed their doors. Religious services have been canceled. Millions upon millions of people have changed their habits. Many are now working from home.
This is the new normal.
The sports world has ground to a halt.
Team rosters in baseball and other sports were depleted during World War II but the games went on. Champions like Joe Louis reported for military duty but professional boxing continued.
This is different.
On March 11, the National Basketball Association announced that it was canceling all games until further notice. That same day, the NCAA announced that the men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments would be played with no one other than essential personnel allowed in the arenas. One day later, the NCAA announced that “March Madness” and all other NCAA winter and spring championship events had been canceled in their entirety.
On March 12, Major League Baseball announced that it was canceling all remaining spring training games and delaying the start of the regular season (scheduled for March 26) by at least two weeks.
On March 13, officials at Augusta National Golf Club announced that The Masters, scheduled for April 9 through April 12, had been postponed.
When the NBA, “March Madness,” Major League Baseball, and The Masters shut down, people pay attention.
Boxing matches in the United States and around the world have been canceled.
On March 11, governor Gavin Newsom announced that California public health officials had advised him that, until at least the end of March, gatherings of more than 250 people should be postponed. One day later, the California State Athletic Commission announced that all combat sports events in the state through the end of March had been canceled.
In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and New York Philharmonic Orchestra announced temporary closures. Broadway shows were suspended through at least April 12. For the first time since its inception 258 years ago, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was postponed.
As for the Shakur Stevenson and Michael Conlan fight cards . . . On March 12, Top Rank issued a press release that read in part, “Due to the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure the health and safety of boxing fans and the fight participants, the March 14 and March 17 events at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden will proceed without spectators. The only individuals granted access to the events will be essential production and support staff in addition to fighters and necessary team members and credentialed media. Both events will still be shown live on their respective ESPN platforms.”
The plan to hold the fights without spectators in the arena evoked the memory of baseball great Willie Keeler who, when asked for the secret of his success as a batter, replied, “Hit ’em where they ain’t.”
But on a more serious note; fighters risk their lives every time they step into the ring. State athletic commission inspectors and others who work in close proximity with fighters and their camps on fight night shouldn’t.
Moreover, COVID-19 has been taking a toll on hospital emergency rooms, which would make treatment for a fighter who is seriously injured during a fight even more problematic. Thus, on the night of March 12, Top Rank announced, “After close consultation with the New York State Athletic Commission, it has been determined that Saturday’s and Tuesday’s events cannot proceed in light of the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.”
Dozens of future fight cards have been canceled. Events like Daniel Dubois vs. Joe Joyce in London on April 11, Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders in Las Vegas on May 2, and Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev in London on June 20 are in limbo.
Sports will recover. There was no World Series in 1994 due to a rift between management and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Baseball survived and came back strong. More recently, NBA and NFL seasons have been shortened by labor unrest with no longterm damage to either league.
As for now; the immediate message is, “This is serious. This is not a time for games.”
9/11 was a blow to most Americans. But after the initial attacks, it didn’t directly threaten their lives. COVID-19 does. And it’s not a Democratic or Republican virus. It’s not a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim virus. It’s a not a straight, gay, or transsexual virus.
Medicine is far more advanced now that it was in 1918. But medicine can’t cure every malady (think cancer). And even under the best of circumstances, medical treatments take time to develop. As famed scientist Wernher von Braun noted, “Crash programs fail because they are based on the theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month.”
It’s likely that, no matter how devastating COVID-19 becomes, someday it will be looked upon as little more than a blip in the timeline of history. That’s how the 1918 pandemic appears to us now. But for those who live (and die) through the present crisis, the immediate consequences are very real. The 1918 pandemic seems less distant and more real in our minds now than it did a month ago.
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – A Dangerous Journey: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. On June 14, 2020, he will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Robeisy Ramirez Wins the WBO World Featherweight Strap; Outpoints Dogboe

Top Rank was at the Hard Rock Hotel-Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma tonight with a card that aired on ESPN+. The featured bout was a match between two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez and former 122-pound world titlist Isaac Dogboe. At stake was the WBO world featherweight title vacated by Emanuel Navarrete.
It was the 13th pro fight for Ramirez, a Cuban defector and the last man to defeat Shakur Stevenson, and his extensive amateur pedigree plus the coaching of his head trainer Ismael Salas translated into a winning performance. In truth, Ramirez didn’t do a lot offensively, but he was very elusive and landed the cleaner punches in a tactical fight. The judges had it 119-110, 118-108, and 117-110.
A 29-year-old southpaw, Ramirez sealed the win with a knockdown in the final round, albeit Dogboe wasn’t hurt after being caught off-balance with a glancing left hook. It was the twelfth straight win for Ramirez who lost his pro debut in a shocker. Dogboe, who had won four straight after suffering back-to-back losses to Navarrete, falls to 24-3.
Co-Feature
In a featherweight fight characterized by a lot of punches – more than 1500 combined – but actually little in the way of fireworks, SoCal’s Joet Gonzalez, a former two-time world title challenger, rebounded from a loss by split decision to Isaac Dogboe with a wide decision over compatriot Enrique Vivas who ended the fight looking as if he may have suffered a broken jaw. The judges had it 99-91 and 98-92 twice.
Gonzalez improved to 26-3 (15). The hard-trying Vivas, who has fought primarily in Northern Mexico, falls to 22-3.
Other Bouts of Note
In an 8-rounder contested at the catchweight of 152 pounds, Jahi Tucker, a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born Long Islander, overcame early adversity and a point deduction for hitting on the break to score a unanimous decision over Nikoloz Sekhniashvili.
Sekhniasvili, from the Republic of Georgia, came out smoking and repeatedly found a home for his left uppercut. But Tucker, who improved to 10-0 (5), weathered the storm and had more gas in his tank. All three judges had it 77-74. It was the second loss for Sekhniashvili who was competing in his tenth pro fight.
In an 8-round heavyweight affair, Jeremiah Milton, a local product advanced to 9-0 (6) at the expense of late sub Fabio Maldonado, a 43-year-old Brazilian. Milton won all eight rounds on two of the scorecards and six rounds on the other, but was yet unimpressive, rarely throwing more than one punch at a time. “He left a lot on the table,” in the words of TV commentator Andre Ward.
Maldonado, who has an MMA background, has an interesting record (29-7, 28 KOs) but is only 7-7 (0-6 on the road) since returning to boxing in 2016 after a six-year hiatus. Against Milton, who was profiled in these pages when his pro career was just getting started, Maldonado had two points deducted for rough tactics and did more posturing than boxing.
In an 8-round junior welterweight contest, Delante “Tiger” Johnson, a U.S. Olympian in Tokyo, advanced to 8-0 (5) with a unanimous decision over Alfonso Olvera, 33-year-old father of four from Tucson. Johnson won every round, but Olvera (12-8-3) had his moments and the bout was more competitive that one would have gleaned from the 80-72 scorecards.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images
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Anthony Joshua Outpoints Jermaine Franklin in a Dreary Fight in London

Amid the holding and grappling former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua got the win by unanimous decision against the shorter Jermaine Franklin to finally return to the win column after more than two years on Saturday.
It wasn’t pretty.
“I should have knocked him out, but it’s done,” said Joshua.
If not for the constant holding allowed by the referee, England’s Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) might have stopped America’s Franklin (21-2, 14 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London. Instead, after 12 mostly dreary rounds it ended in a decision win.
“Jermain has a good duck and dive style,” said Joshua. “Respect to him. He done well.”
The last time Joshua won a fight was December 2020 against Kubrat Pulev by knockout. Since that time the tall, muscular former heavyweight titlist lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua had claimed he would retire if he lost again.
For the first half of the fight both heavyweights used the jab with Joshua snapping off some long right crosses behind it. Immediately Franklin would counter with his own rights and would land.
But most of the first few rounds were from a distance.
“When people come to fight me, they muster up a different kind of energy,” said Joshua about Franklin’s ability to compete 12 rounds. “He’s here to prove himself. He’s not here to roll over.”
Action really increased around the fifth round with Franklin more intent on getting inside against the much taller Joshua. But every time he charged in the British fighter would grab his arms and hold until the referee broke it up.
Franklin withstood some big shots, especially from Joshua’s right uppercuts. But as the rounds mounted up the American fighter’s counters became fewer and fewer.
The entire remainder of the fight was Joshua hitting and holding Franklin’s attempts to fight inside. Though referee Marcus McDonnell advised both fighters to stop the holding, but he never followed up and that allowed the heavyweight fight to slow to a crawl until the final round.
Joshua would fire off a jab then grab ahold of Franklin’s attempts to counter. It became a dreary fight and the referee allowed the contest to continue in monotony.
Franklin shared part of the blame by charging in with his arms extended. If he kept his hands tucked in there would be nothing to hold, but for almost the remainder of the fight hitting and holding was the scenario played out.
In the final round the holding stopped and both fighters exchanged brisk blows. But Franklin seemed more tired than Joshua who stepped in the prize ring heavier than ever. The extra weight did not faze him. Joshua was able to absorb the few big blows from Franklin.
After 12 rounds one judge scored it 118-111, and two others 117-111 all for Joshua.
The win allows fans to dream of an all-British clash between Joshua and Tyson Fury.
“It would be an honor to fight for the WBC title,” said Joshua. “You know me I try to provide for the fans. I know who the fans want.”
Other Bouts
Ammo Williams (14-0, 10 KOs) needed a few rounds to figure out England’s River Wilson-Bent before forcing a stoppage at 1:01 of the eighth round of the middleweight fight. Williams was able to floor Wilson-Bent in the seventh round but overall had a rugged six rounds before figuring out the taller British fighter.
Olympic gold medalist Galal Yafai (4-0, 3 KOs) scored a win by knockout over Mexico’s Moises Calleros (36-11-1) in the fourth round in a flyweight match.
In a heavyweight fight, Fabio Wardley (16-0, 15 KOs) won by knockout over American Michael Polite-Coffee (13-4) when referee Howard Foster suddenly stopped a flurry by the British fighter though no knockdown was scored.
Campbell Hatton (11-0, 4 KOs) scored a knockout via body shot over Louis Fielding (10-8) at 1:29 of the first round. The son of boxing great Ricky Hatton used a left hook to the liver to get the stoppage.
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Rest In Peace Ken Buchanan

We don’t get many great ones in Scotland. Ken Buchanan, who was confirmed to have died today, was one of them, having held the lightweight championship of the world in the highly competitive era of the 1970s, losing it to perhaps the finest champion of them all in the shape of Roberto Duran – and in questionable circumstances at that.
The temptation is to tell the wonderful story of Ken Buchanan in three fights, and I will succumb to that temptation, saying in addition only that the determination and dignity that Buchanan held in his difficult later years impressed me almost as much as his wonderful fighting career. That he did great things in tartan shorts often despite of and not because of a country that failed to support him as richly as he deserved. That the British Boxing Board of Control’s failure to recognise him as world champion when literally the whole of the rest of the boxing universe did is the most shameful decision in the history of that storied organisation. Ken had nothing like the financial, administrative, promotional, and sometimes fistic help that he should have had. Buchanan, perhaps more than any of the great British fighters, achieved what he achieved alone.
That is why we find Buchanan at his mother’s funeral in the late 1960s essentially retired from the sport before he has even been tested. Buchanan was not a very Scottish fighter. He didn’t wade in, workmanlike, “honest”, aggressive; that was his lightweight rival, another fine Scottish fighter named Jim Watt, but it was not Ken. Ken boxed with grace and flamboyance, chose distance, and controlled it, he made superfluous moves and eschewed economy. The style hid iron. Buchanan was stopped just once and that loss had absolutely nothing to do with his chin, as we shall see. Motivated by his remembrance of his mother’s belief that he was made to do something in the sport of boxing, he set out once again in search of greatness. Almost immediately he was robbed in his attempt to win the European lightweight championship from Miguel Velazquez, out in Spain. The great Scottish sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney wryly noted that the Spaniard would have had to have produced a death certificate to lose a fight that Buchanan clearly deserved to win.
Throughout Ken’s career, money men, among them the top British promoter Bobby Neil, tried to change his style, turn him into a workman’s puncher, but Ken just calmly turned them away, choosing his moves based upon freedom rather than cash. This is what made the fast turnaround after the Velazquez debacle so fascinating to me. Buchanan was essentially waiting for a stay-busy fight after winning the British title when he was called directly by Jack Solomons, probably the best-connected promoter and fixer in the country at that time.
“How would you like to fight for the world title you Scots git?” was Jack’s opening gambit; Ken thought that Jack had called him up as a joke, promoted by his father, Ken’s constant companion but a man fond of a joke. Jack explained clearly – the people who handled world champion Ismael Laguna were after a soft touch; a stand-up boxer who wouldn’t give Laguna any trouble, a “patsy” in the parlance of the time. Buchanan was furious.
“A patsy? Is that what they think of me in America? Get me the fight Jack and I’ll show these people what us Scottish patsies are like.”
Buchanan’s date with destiny was set for September 26, 1970 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. To further discomfort the Scotsman the fight would be fought at 2pm with temperatures soaring to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. “I knew there was no promoter in Britain ready to put up money for me to have a shot at the title,” he remembered in his 2000 biography The Tartan Legend, “so I’d have to go for this in a big way.”
The champion, Ismael Laguna, was a wonderful fighter. In 1965 he had defeated the mighty Carlos Ortiz in a narrow decision that must be seen to be believed. Laguna inverted his combinations, turned square against the lethal Ortiz to lead with his right, a baffling, extraordinary execution. It remains one of the finest maverick performances I’ve ever seen against a genuine all-time great and although Ortiz avenged himself and reclaimed his title, when Ortiz was out of the picture Laguna once again rose to the top. Buchanan and his father developed an audacious plan that only another maverick could conceive of: they would travel 4,000 miles from home and outbox this man to a 15-round decision.
Buchanan, in many ways, was ahead of his time and that he was undertaking sprints as interval training in the build-up to the San Juan contest may have been the single most important factor (outside of his brilliance) in winning that fight. Bathed in sweat and “unable to fill my lungs with air” Ken battled the oppressive heat as keenly as he did his opposition in the ring. This training mirrored Ken’s style in the ring – movement, control of the distance, then lengthy combination punching or a period of infighting under maximum commitment, then back on his toes. Almost as important was may have been the shuffling of the officials prompted by Ken’s manager, Eddie Thomas, who had heard that a judge and referee had been imported by Laguna’s team for the occasion.
Ken boxed early and was perhaps out-pecked – he stepped in to provide pressure through eight and the fight was balanced on a knife-edge and remained there through twelve. What really made the difference in this fight was not Ken’s skills and quickness and what is perhaps the most cultured left hand in the history of British boxing, but his decision in the championship rounds to attack. “By the twelfth round we are both tired. Really lead-weight tired. But Laguna won’t give in…I decide to change my tactics. I decide to go for him.”
It was just enough. Ken Buchanan became the new lightweight champion of the world by split decision, both his eyes closed and “at the limit of [his] endurance.”
Buchanan fought his first defence in February of 1971, outpointing Ruben Navarro in LA and fought his second and last defence in a rematch against Laguna. Made in New York, this battle was every bit as torrid as the first, a savage cut to his left eye hampering him throughout and forcing an adjustment that is every bit as much a part of Buchanan’s legend for me as his forthcoming meeting with Roberto Duran. His legendary jab hampered by that damage to the left eye, Buchanan fought squarer, just as Laguna had against Ortiz all those years ago, the injury forcing him in to what McIlvanney called the “slugger’s stance.” I’ll bow to his summary of this fight:
“Most boxers, faced with the demand for such an adjustment, would make a respectable lunge at it for a few minutes, then sag into resignation. The Scottish world champion, whose blindingly sudden and confusingly flexible left jab is not only his most telling weapon but the triggering mechanism for all his best combinations, might have been forgiven if he had gone that way…far from wilting he gained in assurance and authority as the fight moved into the final third of the contest. Time and again he turned back the spidery aggression of Laguna.”
For Buchanan, I’m sure it was nice just to have McIlvanney in attendance. Almost no British press had followed him east for his shot at the title and the reception at home was underwhelming, not least by the BBBC’s preposterous stand over Buchanan’s championship honours. Now, he had earned his status as one of Britain’s great champions.
It is a status he enjoyed at the time of his death today at age 77, a year after his diagnoses with dementia, a status he will always enjoy despite his loss of his lightweight title in his next defence against his nemesis, Roberto Duran.
Duran stopped Ken Buchanan in the thirteenth round of their 1972 Madison Square Garden match, but it is time now to be explicit: the refereeing in this fight was questionable. Johnny LoBianco allowed Duran to foul Buchanan throughout. Sports Illustrated adjudged from ringside that Duran “used every part of his anatomy, everything but his knee” in his pursuit of the title.
Buchanan was even more direct: “I thought I signed up for a wrestling match, not a boxing contest. He hit me in the balls a couple of times without so much as a nod from the referee.” In the thirteenth, Buchanan, trailing on the cards, felt he had one of his better rounds but at the bell, “I turn towards my corner and in the same moment Duran lunges…with a punch that went right into my balls.” The punch was so hard that it split Buchanan’s protector. Examined by a doctor after the fight he was found to have significant swelling of the testicles. The referee, incredibly, didn’t even admonish Duran for throwing a fight-finishing punch after the bell while simultaneously claiming that the punch had been “to the solar plexus.”
To be clear, Duran was better than Buchanan. It’s almost impossible to envisage Buchanan turning the fight around and however he personally felt about the thirteenth, if he received four rounds on a scorecard, that scorecard would be generous. But it is also wrong to see anyone drop his title in such circumstances and the unfortunate event saw the beginning of Buchanan’s slide from relevancy and then, later, mental health. He waited by the phone for far too long for Duran to call him up and offer a rematch. Whatever is to be made of it, Duran had no interest in providing one, and in Buchanan’s defence, it’s probable that he never fought a fighter as good as Ken during the whole of the rest of his lightweight reign. Buchanan took it badly, so badly he even flew to North America in the 1990s to see if he could track Duran down and have it out with him. Fortunately, Buchanan didn’t get much further than some downtown bars where he was still fondly remembered by some of the patrons.
Buchanan’s life post-boxing was difficult, but never pitiful. He was proud and however difficult things got, he remained proud. Last year, and just in time, he was in attendance as a statue of him was unveiled on Leith Walk in Edinburgh where he ran as a boy.
Gone now, he will never be forgotten in Scotland. Blessed with speed and great heart he made of himself what he could and it turned out to be just about as much as a Scottish fighter has ever made of himself. To end I offer a quote from The Fight Game In Scotland, a book written by Brian Donald who himself boxed Buchanan when both were Edinburgh teenagers. Brian ran 0-3 but began a lifelong friendship with Buchanan who was always ready to offer the hand of friendship to his defeated opponents.
“Buchanan, like a top-grade malt whisky, held his own in any foreign environment no matter how distant he was from his native shores…he was and remains one of the most accomplished British fighters to fight in foreign rings. His ring style was in some respects a metaphor for his own personality, elusive and tough, and the soaring singularity of his talent was matched by an equally single-minded determination that nobody, but nobody, knew better than Kenny Buchanan what was good for him.”
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