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Art of Boxing Series: Paulie Ayala (Part Two)

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It was like a duel between two Old West gunslingers as Paulie Ayala a little-known Texas southpaw stood poised to greet New Mexico’s Johnny Tapia, the mercurial world champion from Albuquerque.

When the bell rang that Las Vegas night on June 26, 1999, the tightly wound bantamweights delivered the most riveting battle of the year. Showtime will replay the 1999 Fight of the Year on Friday, April 17 as part of their “Rivalries” series.

Their battle proved so captivating they did it again a year later.

Ayala grew up in a town famous for producing world champions in the 1980s. And though his amateur career fell short, it allowed him to realize he could compete with the best. It also allowed him to sharpen his fighting style to hair-splitting accuracy that still goes unnoticed.

As a youth, he served as a sparring partner for world champions like Freddie Norwood and Stevie Cruz. Norwood would defeat Juan Manuel Marquez and Cruz would hang a loss on Barry McGuigan. Those victories by his stablemates opened up his eyes to his own possibilities.

“Freddie Norwood beat Marquez. And to me he didn’t train 110 percent and to be able to do what he was able to do and fight the way he fought, he was really a goofy guy,” said Ayala thinking back on helping Norwood prepare for Marquez in 1999. “So, when he beat Marquez I wondered how long he trained for that. Probably nothing. He beat Juan Manuel Marquez; that’s crazy.”

Ayala toiled away sparring against some of the most talented fighters in the world in hopes of getting his own world title shot.

“I was never really concerned who I was going to fight because my sparring was better than anybody I was going to face at that point of my career until I fought for a title. I sparred Freddie Norwood, Robert Quiroga, and John Michael Johnson when he was getting ready for Junior Jones. I sparred a lot of top guys during that time,” said Ayala of his battles in Fort Worth. “Sparring in those days was like war every day.”

After three years of mowing down the competition, Ayala captured the NABF bantamweight title with a third-round knockout of Miguel Espinoza on March 1995. He held it for more than three years, wondering when he would get a world title shot.

Yokohama, Japan and La Vida Loca

Sometimes when you lose you win. That proved true when Paulie Ayala arrived on the shores of Japan to challenge for the WBC bantamweight world title against Joichiro Tatsuyoshi.

Despite starting strong, an accidental clash of heads resulted in a technical decision loss after six rounds in front of 22,000 fans in Yokohama Arena on August 1998.

“I thought I was in control. He was a boxer and had a little charisma in his boxing and little flamboyance. In the first round I caught him and he buckled so I started boxing him and tried to see if I could catch him again. He had a little cut in his left eye so I started working on that, so the next thing you know I went to the body and we crashed heads. The referee deducted two points from me. They said I intentionally did it. It ended in the sixth round,” said Ayala. “It was one of my biggest disappointments because I wanted that green belt.”

After waiting six years to get a world title opportunity he worried that another might not come around for another six years. He was wrong.

“I immediately went back to the gym when I got home and took a couple of quick fights. And next thing you know I got a phone call from Top Rank and they said we got another title shot for you. This time it’s in the states and that’s when it was with Johnny Tapia,” said Ayala. “To me, I know they accepted the fight because my fight in Japan was not televised here. So, no one got to see it. That’s why I thought I even got that opportunity anyway. They didn’t see the fight. They just know I went to fight for the world title and I lost. I think it was a blessing in disguise.”

Tapia was undefeated and perhaps the most charismatic bantamweight in the history of prizefighting. His “Mi Vida Loca” tattoo said all you needed to know about his lifestyle but fans loved the bad boy from Albuquerque who spent several years in jail. When he returned to boxing his popularity soared once again.

In 1994 Tapia won the WBO super flyweight world title by knockout against Henry Martinez and held on to it for 11 title defenses. Then on July 1997 he engaged in a battle to unify the super flyweight division against crosstown rival Danny Romero who held the IBF version. Tapia won the bloody rivalry by unanimous decision after 12 rounds in Las Vegas.

After two more defenses of the WBO and IBF super flyweight titles, Tapia moved up a weight division and captured the WBA bantamweight world title by majority decision over Nana Yaw Konadu in Atlantic City. After one more fight Tapia was ready to defend the bantamweight title and Ayala was the chosen opponent.

“He was a super popular guy,” said Ayala. “Definitely I was the underdog. I was going to take the back seat. Johnny Tapia was the fan favorite, media favorite, I mean everybody loved him.”

The first press conference took place in Beverly Hills, California and the media showed up in full force at the Friars Club on Santa Monica Boulevard. Tapia was surrounded by reporters with cameras, microphones and handheld recording devices.

Near the entrance to the Friars Club sitting on a metal chair next to his trainer was Ayala who calmly watched the media frenzy around Tapia. It was the only time Tapia would enjoy dominance.

“When you start the press conferences and the press tours everything is cordial. Then there is camp and you come back and it’s time to fight. When we first saw each other at the first press conference, we made eye contact and I could see, not concern but he knew I was focused,” said Ayala.

Mandalay Bay

Just three months earlier the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino had opened its doors for the first time. As a boxing venue, it was still brand new when Paulie Ayala and Johnny Tapia met for the WBA bantamweight title on June 26, 1999.

It would soon become home to a bevy of epic prize fights starting with the bantamweight clash. There’s a particular reason why casinos in Las Vegas love boxing. It has a seductive allure to gamblers, real sports fans and boxing fanatics.

Prizefighters are a different breed.

Outside of a boxing ring many prizefighters are congenial, and eager to talk to fans and media. But once the weigh-ins take place their faces and demeanor change drastically like Jekyll and Hyde.

“I feel that’s another part of the fight, It’s a mental fight,” Ayala said about the drama involved at weigh-ins and pre-fight press conferences days before the fight.

When the two bantamweights stepped in the middle of the ring to hear instructions Tapia was hyper and eager to unload. Ayala quickly noticed as referee Joe Cortez gave his instructions.

“I could see in his eyes he had a totally different demeanor. His eyes were like gone. He was into the fight. I already knew he was angry. And to me, that’s better. The more angry he is the less he is going to listen to Freddie (Roach),” said Ayala remembering their face-to-face moment seconds before the fight. “He kept looking at me (during instructions) and he kind of jumped to the side and I jumped to the side. But I didn’t know he was going to come and push me.”

Tapia shoved Ayala seconds before the actual fight.

“Joe Cortez said specifically to me ‘Paulie if you do anything and don’t let me do my job I’m going to disqualify you.’ And I already lost my first world title (bid) I wasn’t going to risk something stupid to lose the fight like that again,” said Ayala.

Tapia was an excellent boxer and could be difficult to hit. But his main weakness was his machismo inside the boxing ring. Ayala figured it out quickly.

“I kept catching him, I would kind of go whew! Every time I hit him with a good shot I’d go whew. And he hated that,” said Ayala explaining that the verbal taunts set off Tapia to engage more. “The main thing is I got him out of his fight game for one, of course Freddie Roach was trying to get him to box, and turn, then counter. But he wasn’t listening.”

Suddenly the tactical skirmish turned into an all-out war. Neither was willing to move backward and the two 118-pounders were blasting each other relentlessly daring each other to match power shots. It was exciting stuff for the fans who roared and reacted every time a big blow landed.

Early on Ayala thought Tapia was tiring. But he was mistaken.

“I thought he was already tired the way Johnny would suck up all the air after a round. So, I thought it was already downhill for him. So, we’re getting into the 10th round he is still doing the same thing. But his work ethic in the later rounds was even more intense. So, I was like ‘man, this is what championship boxing is all about,’” Ayala said.

Ayala was in his element as Tapia attacked with his unrelenting assault. The Texas southpaw caught many of the blows off his gloves and slipped and countered with perfect timing. It was memorable stuff as the pair of pocket-sized destroyers traded bombs over 12 rounds.

“He was boxing good but he wasn’t landing any hard shots and I was landing way better shots than he was landing. That’s why he decided to stop boxing and moving and he decided to trade with me. I’m not saying he made it easier but he made it better, by far for me. Because I was having to cut off the ring and it was a lot more work than for him to just stay there in the pocket and we could just fight it out right there.”

It was the type of warfare that Ayala preferred: in-the-pocket exchanges. The kind he had perfected for years in Fort Worth sparring sessions against world champions.

When the final bell sounded Ayala slumped to the ground.

“Right when the bell rang to complete the final round I fell down in the middle of the ring, not only because of the excitement but I was exhausted. I used everything I had,” recalled Ayala.

Ayala knew he was not the favorite and Tapia had never been beaten. But he hoped the judges saw what he felt was his victory.

“All I was waiting for is when they said ‘and the new champion of the world!” That was an experience that I will never forget,” said Ayala who won by unanimous decision 116-113 twice and 115-114.

Bedlam ensued and some booed and others cheered. According to CompuBox, an unofficial group that tabulates punches for the television fans, Tapia landed more blows. But Ayala had a style that wasn’t easy to tabulate correctly.

All in all, it was a spectacular fight and one that would later be voted Fight of the Year by Ring Magazine. For the impressive win, Ayala was also selected Fighter of the Year in 1999 by the same publication. Think of it. He was voted over Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Lennox Lewis.

Ayala was the last fighter to win that honor in the 20th century.

“That was the greatest feeling. Look at all the champions around. You had everybody. You had the Klitschkos, De La Hoya, Vargas, you had all these guys. Erik Morales, you had Johnny Tapia all these guys that are in the Hall of Fame. I beat all them for Fighter of the Year award. That was in 1999. I mean everybody was fighting. Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao those guys were all fighting back then too. People don’t take that into consideration. I was going against the top guys so for them to even consider me that was so awesome,” said Ayala.

Ayala in the 21st Century

Ayala and Tapia would fight again 16 months later but at the MGM Grand. Once again Ayala would defeat the New Mexican fighter but at a catchweight of 124 pounds. Just like their first encounter the pair of sluggers let the punches fly.

The Texas southpaw would defend the WBA title successfully three times then move up a weight division and defeat Clarence “Bones” Adams for the IBO super bantamweight title twice. And just like the Tapia clashes the wars with Adams proved scintillating too.

Ayala tried the featherweight division too and was denied by Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. He finally retired after the loss to Barrera in Los Angeles.

“In boxing you have to have that killer instinct. You are training for war. It’s not a sport where you are in there to win on points. You are in there to hurt that guy, to take his will,” said Ayala. “It doesn’t matter what a fighter says after the fight. Sometimes you know you took his soul.”

Ayala still lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife Letitia. They have two grown offspring and maintain a boxing gym called the University of Hard Knocks Gym. They provide classes for those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease called Punching Out Parkinsons. They also provide boxing therapy classes for At Risk, suicidal and autistic youth.

They have an Instagram account called Paulie Ayala’s UHK and can be found on Twitter.com too.

Don’t forget to watch Ayala vs. Tapia 1 and 2 on Showtime’s boxing series on Friday April 17.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel 

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The Hauser Report: What’s Going On With Premier Boxing Champions?

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Eight years ago, Al Haymon unveiled what many thought would be the future of boxing. The boxing community had been awash in rumors for months. Haymon was amassing a war chest totaling hundreds of millions of dollars with the help of a venture capital fund in an effort to take over the sport . . . Haymon was signing hundreds of fighters to managerial and advisory contracts . . . Haymon was planning some sort of TV series . . . Time-buys on multiple networks for an entity called Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) were confirmed.

On March 7, 2015, Haymon began the rollout of his plan when NBC televised the inaugural PBC offering – a fight card featuring Keith Thurman and Adrien Broner in separate bouts. Free boxing. On network television.

But the plan fell short of expectations. Advertisers didn’t come onboard. DAZN and then Saudi Arabia became the flavor of the month. Now PBC is seeking to reassert itself through an alliance with Amazon. The first “PBC on Prime Video” offering will be a pay-per-view event on March 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But PBC isn’t the power it once was. No one talks about Al Haymon taking over boxing anymore.

Amazon will distribute the PBC show. It wants to build a live pay-per-view platform for multiple events, and this is an early foray into that realm. It has no interest in playing the sort of role that HBO and Showtime played in boxing. Amazon (like In Demand) will take and distribute the product it’s given.

The PBC pay-per-view events that are streamed on Prime Video will also be available to viewers through other streaming platforms like PPV.com as well as linear-TV cable and satellite PPV distributors.

In addition, Prime Video has said that it will stream a series of “free” (with a subscription to Amazon Prime) PBC Championship Boxing events in the United States and other designated countries on an exclusive basis.

The degree to which Amazon will provide a marketing push for PBC’s shows is unclear at the present time.

Four fights will be on the March 30 PPV stream. The main event was to have matched Keith Thurman vs. Tim Tszyu. Eight years ago when he headlined PBC’s inaugural telecast on NBC, Thurman was young and fresh. Now he’s 35 years old and has won only one fight in the preceding five years (a ten-round decision over Mario Barrios). Tszyu (the son of Kostya Tszyu) was eased into the WBO 154-pound title through an “interim” portal and is being groomed for a big-money fight down the road.

Then, earlier today (March 18), it was reported that Thurman had been injured in training camp and Sebastian Fundora (who’d been slated to fight Serheii Bohachuk on the undercard) will likely face Tszyu. Fundora was speeding along a fast track until his most recent fight which saw him pitching a shutout against Brian Mendoza when a one-punch knockout in round seven derailed his dream.

Sebastian Fundora

Sebastian Fundora

The primary supporting bouts on the pay-per-view stream are expected to be Erislandy Lara vs. Michael Zerafa and Rolly Romero vs. Isaac Cruz.

Lara is forty years old. During the past five years, he has fought Ramon Alvarez, Greg Vendetti, Thomas LaManna, and Gary O’Sullivan (which somehow enabled him to claim the WBA 160-pound belt). Zerafa’s primary qualification seems to be that (like Tszyu) he’s from Australia.

Romero is a tiresome loudmouth who often fails to back up his talk. He was knocked out by Gervonta Davis and was trailing Ismael Barroso on all three judges’ scorecards when a premature stoppage by referee Tony Weeks gifted him the WBA 140-pound belt. Cruz went the distance in a losing effort against Davis.

Former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza has been consulted with regard to production on the March 30 PPV stream. As of this writing, the commentating team hasn’t been announced (which is odd since the event is less than two weeks away).

Meanwhile, the rest of the sports landscape is rapidly changing.

On January 23, it was announced that Netflix (Prime Video’s most formidable competitor with 247 million subscribers) had signed a deal to stream WWE’s flagship wrestling show – Raw. The ten-year deal will cost Netflix roughly five billion dollars. Netflix can opt out of the deal after five years or, if it chooses, extend it for another ten years.

Then, on March 7, Netflix furthered its commitment to “trash sports” when it announced that Mike Tyson and Jake Paul will meet in the ring in Texas on July 20 in an encounter to be streamed live on Netflix. It’s unclear whether the encounter will be a “fight” or a glorified sparring session.

Adding to the mix; Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers announced on February 6 that they will launch a joint subscription streaming service later this year that will bundle sports content from ESPN and affiliated networks (such as ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS), the Warner Brothers’ Discovery networks that showcase sports (TNT, TBS, TruTV), and Fox (the Fox broadcast network in addition to FS1, FS2 and BTN).

But back to PBC on Prime Video. If the March 30 fight card were streamed as part of the Amazon Prime membership package, it would be a plus for boxing fans. But it won’t be. It’s a pay-per-view event. And even before Thurman’s injury, it wasn’t pay-per-view-worthy as that term was once understood.

You get only one chance to make a first impression. This isn’t a good first impression for PBC on Prime Video.

***

On December 17, I posted a column in which I urged that Gerry Cooney and Cedric Kushner be included on the ballot for induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. There’s another, more obvious omission that I’d like to address.

Al Haymon has been at the center of the boxing universe for two decades. He built his power through a series of alliances with HBO (his point person was Kery Davis), Golden Boy (Richard Schaefer), and investors (Waddell & Reed) and maintained it through dealings with Showtime (Stephen Espinoza) and various other networks. There were times when it seemed as though he was on the verge of “taking over boxing.” Now Saudi Arabian oil money is the dominant force. But Haymon is breaking new ground through an association between Premier Boxing Champions and Amazon Video.

Haymon likes to style himself as an “advisor” or “manager.” In reality, he functions as a promoter. But labels are irrelevant. The bottom line is that no one has had a greater influence on boxing over the past twenty years than Al Haymon. He belongs in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the first step toward that end is to put his name on the ballot for induction.

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book — “MY MOTHER and me” — is a personal memoir that will be published by Admission Press this spring and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Dillian Whyte Returns from Purgatory and Brushes Away a Wimpy Opponent in Ireland

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Dillian Whyte Returns from Purgatory and Brushes Away a Wimpy Opponent in Ireland

Tomorrow (Monday) is a national holiday in Ireland which is always the case whenever Saint Patrick’s Day happens to fall on a Sunday. That explains why today’s fight card in the County Mayo town of Castlebar is being staged on a Sunday. After the show, the attendees with regular jobs can stay up late quaffing down a few pints at their favorite pub knowing they can sleep-in tomorrow. (And they likely needed a few pints to wash away the pain of paying good money to see this craphole show.)

All of the A-Side fighters were Irishmen including the headliner Dillian Whyte, a Londoner of Jamaican extraction who claims that one of his grandparents was born in Ireland. The “Body Snatcher” was matched against German-Romanian slug Christian Hammer.

Whyte, who turns 36 next month, last fought in November of 2022 when he won a lackluster decision over Jermaine Franklin. His rematch with Anthony Joshua in August of last year fell out when an “adverse analytical finding” turned up in his VADA test. Whyte bellowed loudly that he was innocent, but there was the presumption of guilt because he had served a two-year ban for illegal substances earlier in his career. But lo and behold, in a curious development, Whyte was cleared this month when a forensics expert associated with the Texas Boxing Commission asserted that the adverse result was caused by a nutritional supplement that contained a contaminent that wasn’t disclosed on the supplement’s list of ingredients. (Whyte was training in the United States and licensed to fight in Texas when the random drug test was administered.)

Hammer brought a 27-10 (17) record but had been stopped five times, most recently by Joe Joyce who blew him away in four rounds. He was in Castlebar just for the payday and retired on his stool after three frames. He was never down in the fight, but was tattooed with a bunch of punches on his flabby midsection. (The weights were not announced.)

With the win, Dillian Whyte advanced his record to 30-3 (20 KOs). More relevantly, he is back in the mix in the heavyweight picture. His American trainer Buddy McGirt hopes to have him back in the ring in a couple of months.

Other Bouts of Note

Roy Moylette, a 33-year-old junior welterweight from the nearby town of Islandeady, made the locals happy when he got off the deck to win the decision in an 8-round bout with Argentine journeyman Requen Facundo (17-15-2). Moylette (14-2-1) entered the pro ranks with a wealth of international amateur experience, but his pro career never took off. Heading into this match, he announced it would be his farewell fight.

The Argentine, a late sub who had begun his pro career as a featherweight, had Moylette on the canvas in the second round but couldn’t sustain the momentum. The referee, who had the unusual but unmistakably Irish name of Padraig O’Reachtagain, scored it 76-75.

In what was likely his final pro fight, 39-year-old Cork super middleweight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan left on a downbeat note, losing an 8-round decision to Sofiane Khati. O’Reachtagain had it 77-76 for the outsider.

O’Sullivan (31-6, 21 KOs) will be remembered as the Irishman who wore a handlebar mustache during his fighting days in Boston, a look that harked to John L. Sullivan who Spike believed to be a distant relative. In his previous bout in May of 2022 he was stopped in eight frames by Erislandy Lara in Brooklyn, his fourth setback inside the distance and third in his last six.

A 31-year-old French-Algerian, Khati improved to 15-4 (5).

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Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser: ‘The Blue Corner’

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Boxing, like all sports, is more fun to watch when the viewer has a rooting interest. That interest can spring from a variety of factors. Some people like or dislike a particular fighter on a personal level. Others – let’s be honest – root for or against a fighter based on ethnicity.

If I don’t know either of the fighters in a fight, I root for the underdog.

That can be dispiriting. Too many fight cards today consist largely of A-side vs. B-side fights. As a general rule, the A-side fighter comes out of the red corner and the B-side fighter is seated in the blue corner. Upsets are few and far between.

Tom Loeffler’s March 15 fight card at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater is a case in point. There are underdogs and then there are hopeless underdogs. I went to the fights hoping something that wasn’t supposed to happen would happen. But a look at the opponents’ records told me that was unlikely.

BoxRec.com is a wonderful tool for scoping out how competitive a fight is likely to be. Here’s what I learned from BoxRec.com before the fights and how things unfolded in the ring.

Fight #1: Giovanni Scuderi (9-0, 4 KOs) vs. Brandon Carmack – Scuderi’s last opponent had 57 losses. And that opponent might have beaten Carmack. I’m sure Brandon could decimate most people in a bar fight. But he lumbered around the ring like a heavybag with feet. Scuderi telegraphs every righthand he throws. But he has a basic jab. The match had the appearance of a picador sticking lances into a slow sluggish bull. W4 for Scuderi.

Fight #2: Nisa Rodriguez (0-0) vs. Jozette Cotton – Rodriguez is a 33-year-old New York City police officer with an extensive amateur background who was making her pro debut. Cotton was winless in four pro fights. Rodriguez fought tentatively. Cotton had a roll of flab around her waist (which spoke to her conditioning) and fought like she didn’t know how to box. W4 for Rodriguez.

Fight #3 Joseph Ward (10-1, 6 KOs) vs. Derrick Webster – Webster is 41 years old and has now won one of six fights since 2018. KO 2 for Ward.

Fight #4: Reshat Mati (14-0, 8 KOs) vs. Irving Macias – Macias has lost three of his last four fights, and the guy he beat during that stretch has 19 losses (including his last seven fights in a row). W8 for Mati.

Fight #5: Cletus Seldin (27-1, 23 KOs) vs. Jose Angulo – Angulo has lost six of his last eight fights, including four KOs by. W8 for Seldin, Here, I should note that, after the fight, Seldin took the ring announcer’s microphone, dropped to one knee, opened a small box containing a diamond engagement ring, and asked one Jessica Ostrowski to marry him. The future Mrs. Seldin (who was clad in black leather) said yes, and the happy couple paraded around the ring together.

Fight #6: Feargal McCrory (15-0, 7 KOs) vs. Carlos Carlson –  Carlson has had ten fights since 2016 and lost seven of them. The three guys he beat during that stretch have 92 losses between them. And he hadn’t fought in more than two years. Referee David Fields did the fans a favor by stopping the bout prematurely in round three. If Carlson had fought as vigorously during the fight as he complained about the stoppage afterward, it would have been a better fight.

Fight #7: The main event matched Callum Walsh (9-0, 7 KOs) against Dauren Yeleussinov. Walsh is a 23-year-old junior-middleweight who UFC CEO Dana White is trying to build as a boxing version of Conor McGregor. Yeleussinov has lost three of his last four fights (including a first-round KO by). And the opponent Dauren beat during that stretch has 22 losses (including a current losing streak of 19 a row). Yeleussinov was tailor-made for Walsh – slow on his feet with slow hands and not much of a punch. Callum got off first all night. KO 9.

In six of the seven fights, the underdog lost every round.

I’m tired of fighters who talk tough and posture at press conferences but won’t fight an opponent who’s remotely competitive. And yes; I know that prospects can’t go in tough every time out. But a prospect’s opponent should pose some kind of challenge.

And let’s be honest; most of the fighters on the March 15 card were there because they were local ticket-sellers, not prospects. Only Walsh has world-class potential. He’s 23 years old with skills and is getting better. Right now, he’s a very good club fighter. Let’s see if he becomes something more.

*        *        *

One moment from promoter Larry Goldberg’s March 7 club-fight card at Sony Hall in New York stands out in my mind.

In the second fight of the evening, Jason Castanon and Luis Rivera-Reyes squared off against one another in a scheduled four-round junior-welterweight bout. Each man was making his pro debut. Castanon’s opponent had pulled out the previous week, leaving matchmaker Eric Bottjer scrambling for a new opponent. Rivera-Reyes had been scheduled to fight on the undercard of a show in Puerto Rico but his opponent had also fallen out, so he was available.

Bottjer thought that Castanon vs. Rivera-Reyes would be a competitive fight. Each man was old for a boxer making his pro debut. Castano is 30; Rivera-Reyes is 35. But they had comparable amateur backgrounds.

Rivera-Reyes held his own in round one. But Castanon was the stronger, better-schooled fighter. In round two, Luis started getting beaten up. The punishment mounted in round three. Rivera-Reyes was still trying to win but it was a futile effort. With seconds left in the third stanza, a righthand staggered Luis and a second righthand put him down hard. He rose through an incredible act of will because that’s what real fighters do. But he was badly hurt and on wobbly legs. Referee Eddie Claudio asked if he wanted to continue.

Rivera-Reyes shook his head. No.

Afterward, an uncharitable observer said that Luis “quit.”

I think that Luis acted with honor. Sitting several feet from the ring, I had a perfect view of the pain and despair etched on his face as he confronted the reality that he was a beaten man. He didn’t jump to his feet at the count of ten-and-a-half, pretending that he was ready to keep fighting. He didn’t ignore the referee’s question and feign outrage when the fight was stopped. He acknowledged that he had given his all and was beaten. Fighters aren’t video-game figures. They get hurt. And sometimes they just can’t take anymore.

The moment reminded me of the 1983 rematch between Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor. Pryor had won their classic first encounter with a brutal knockout that left Arguello unconscious on the ring canvas. In round ten of Pryor-Arguello II, Alexis found himself on the canvas again. He was a warrior, one of the greatest fighters of all time. He could have gotten up. But he didn’t. He had done the best he could and realized that it was over. He sat with tears streaming down his face and later acknowledged. “It’s hard to accept, but it’s good to accept. I did it with grace and just accepted that the guy beat me. Even though I did my best, in the tenth round I accepted it right there. I said, ‘This is too much. I won’t take it. I‘ll just sit and watch Richard Steele count to ten.'”The look in Luis Rivera-Reyes’s eyes when he shook his head will stay with me for a long time. He had been beaten into submission in his first pro fight. And I wondered, how long will he hold onto the dream.

*          *          *

A nod to “March Madness” which begins this week . . .

College basketball has a problem – court storming.

It’s now in vogue for fans of the home team to surge onto the court after a big win. Tearing down the goal posts in football endangers fans who are tearing down the goal posts. Court storming endangers the players.

On January 21, Caitlin Clark (Iowa’s superstar guard) was knocked to the floor when Ohio State fans stormed the court after a big win.

On February 24, Kyle Fitzpatrick (Duke’s All-American center) injured his knee when Wake Forest fans stormed the court after a dramatic upset.

To date, the NCAA has done nothing about the problem. Several conferences have taken action on their own, the most notable example being the SEC which instituted an escalating fine that begins at $100,000 for the first incident. By contrast, the ACC has no penalty for court-storming; the Big Ten has no penalty until the third incident; and the Big East penalizes offending schools the paltry sum of $5,000.

It shouldn’t be hard to end court storming.

The NCAA should institute a rule – and fans should be advised late in each contest – that court storming will result in forfeiture of the game.

***

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir that will be published by Admission Press on April 2 and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

          In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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