For Whom The Bell Tolled: 2020 Boxing Obituaries PART TWO

Published

4 years ago

December 29, 2020

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The terrible pandemic that swept the globe in 2020 did not spare the boxing community. Looking over our list of boxing notables that left us this year, we found 10 individuals whose deaths were attributed in whole or in part to COVID-19. Their age at death ranged from 61 to 95 with a mean age of 76.2 and they represented five countries: the United States, England, Italy, Argentina, and Mexico.

On an upbeat note, the year ended without a single ring fatality. We would like to interpret this as a sign of greater vigilance by those entrusted with the responsibility of keeping boxers safe, but ruefully concede that an abbreviated schedule may have played a larger role.

Here is PART TWO of our annual end-of-year report in which we pay homage to those for whom the final bell tolled. The decedents are listed chronologically according to the date of their passing. Part Two covers July through December.

July

15 – Travell Mazion

A rising junior middleweight contender with a 17-0 record, Mazion perished when his car crossed the median and slammed into an incoming car on a highway near his hometown of Austin, Texas. He was 24 years old.

18 – Dickie Cole

A former amateur boxer, judge, and referee, Cole served the sport in several administrative capacities, most notably as the head of the Texas commission, a post he held for more than two decades. Credited with wooing big fights to the Lone Star State, he drew flack for his autocratic ways, alleged conflicts of interest (he sold insurance to boxers and promoters) and his alleged nepotism. At age 89 in Dallas of heart disease.

24 – Nazeem Richardson

“Brother Nazeem” trained dozens of fighters in Philadelphia before achieving national recognition for his work with Bernard Hopkins. He also trained Shane Mosley for three of Mosley’s biggest fights. Richardson suffered a stroke in 2008 and had been in ill health for several years. At age 56 in Philadelphia.

26 – Willie Savannah

A longtime trainer and gym operator in Houston, Savannah mentored such notables as Ronnie Shields and Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz. Evander Holyfield and the Charlo twins, among many others, used his facility, but he was most proud of his amateur program and its impact on turning around troubled kids. At age 85 of kidney failure.

August

4 – Tony Doyle

The Salt Lake City bruiser sparred hundreds of rounds with Muhammad Ali. As a pro he was 40-16-1 with the draw coming in a 10-round affair with Jerry Quarry in the first of their three meetings. “Irish Tony” reportedly defeated Joe Frazier as an amateur, but Frazier whacked him out in two rounds when they met up as pros in the first main event at Philadelphia’s spanking new Spectrum. At age 76 in Draper, Utah, where he was battling dementia.

5 – Pete Hamill

As a young reporter he took to hanging around Cus D’Amato’s Gramercy Gym where he developed a great friendship with future light heavyweight champion Jose Torres. A central character in Hamill’s 1978 novel “Flesh and Blood” is plainly based on D’Amato. Late in his life, the legendary newspaperman and author wrote poignantly of his disillusionment with the sweet science. At age 85 in his native Brooklyn.

6 – Wilbert “Skeeter” McClure

As an amateur, the Toledo, Ohio native won two National Golden Gloves titles and a gold medal as a light middleweight at the 1960 Rome Olympiad where his roommate was Cassius Clay. As a pro, he was 24-8-1 while finding time to earn a Ph. D. in counseling psychology on the GI Bill, his gateway to the quiet life of an academician and psychotherapist in Boston. For a time, he was Chairman of the Massachusetts Athletic Commission. At age 81 of natural causes.

7 – Chuck Lincoln

The older brother of the late heavyweight contender Amos “Big Train” Lincoln, Chuck Lincoln, a Korean War veteran, carved out an 11-1-1 record as a pro and then became the linchpin of amateur boxing in Portland, Oregon. Thad Spencer, Ray Lampkin, and Michael Colbert were among his students. At age 88 after a long battle with kidney disease.

22 – Sandro Mazzinghi

A two-time world champion at 154 pounds, Mazzinghi was 64-3 (2 NC) in a career that began in 1961. Two of his three losses were to countryman Nino Benvenuti, the first of which, in Milan, was Italy’s Fight of the Century. At age 81 in his native Pontedera in Tuscany where he owned a vineyard.

29 – Fritz Chervet

Hailed as the best fighter born and raised in Switzerland, the “Bernese Fly” competed from 1962 to 1976 and finished with a mark of 59-9-2. He twice fought Chartchai Chionoi for the world flyweight title, losing the first encounter on cuts and the second on a controversial split decision. At age 77 following a stroke at his home near his birthplace in Bern.

31 – Jean Baptiste Mendy

A French citizen born in Senegal, Mendy won the WBC and WBA world lightweight titles, in that order, late in a 17-year career that began in 1973. He finished 55-8-3. At age 57 in Paris of pancreatic cancer.

September

3 – Terry Daniels

Daniels showed promise as an up-and-comer on the Texas circuit, but was no match for Joe Frazier when they met on Super Bowl Eve in New Orleans in 1972. Smokin’ Joe stopped him in the fourth and it was all downhill for Daniels from that point; he won only seven of his last 33 fights. In Willoughby, Ohio, at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

10 – Alan Minter

He out-pointed defending middleweight champion Vito Antuofermo at Las Vegas in 1980 to become the first British boxer in 69 years to capture a world title on U.S. soil. He butchered Antuofermo in the rematch, but was then butchered by Marvin Hagler in a fight best remembered for the antics of the pro-Minter hooligans who turned Wembley Stadium into a riot zone. He finished 39-9 with most of his losses the result of cuts. At age 69 after a long battle with cancer.

October

11 – Ricardo Jiminez

A newspaperman turned publicist, Jiminez boosted the careers of a slew of mostly Spanish-speaking boxers while employed by Top Rank and other leading West Coast fight factories. Hugely admired by his peers, Jiminez shared the 2006 BWAA “Good Guy” award with his Top Rank colleague Lee Samuels. At age 64 four days after suffering a stroke.

28 – Miguel Angel Castellini

Nicknamed “Cloroformo,” Castellini won the WBA 154-pound title with a 15-round decision over Spain’s Jose Duran in Madrid and lost it in his first defense to Eddie Gazo in Managua. In retirement he ran a boxing gym in downtown Buenos Aires that broke tradition by welcoming female boxers. At age 73 after a lengthy hospital stay for a myriad of health issues including COVID-19.

November

7 – Reginaldo Kuchle

He promoted hundreds of shows in Mexico during a career spanning more than four decades. A strong supporter of female boxing, he and his son Osvaldo were the driving forces behind a weekly show on the Televisa network. At age 77 of a heart attack after recovering from COVID-19.

9 – Fernando Atzori

Born on the island of Sardinia, Atzori won a gold medal in the 112-pound class at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was 44-6-2 as a pro, including a 10-2-1 mark in bouts billed for the European Boxing Union Flyweight Title. In Florence at age 78 after a lengthy illness.

17 – Royal Kobayashi

A 1972 Olympian who was briefly a world title-holder at 122 pounds, Kobayashi finished 35-8 (27) in a nine-year career that began in 1973. Four of his losses came in world title fights including stoppages as the hands of all-time greats Alexis Arguello, Wilfredo Gomez, and Eusebio Pedroza. At age 71 of cancer in his native Kumamoto where he was working as a security guard.

18 – Juan Domingo Roldan

The barrel-chested middleweight forged a 67-5-2 (47) record during an 11-year career and retired to the life of a successful rancher-businessman in the dairy industry. His biggest fights were in Las Vegas where he came up short in world title fights vs Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. At age 63 in San Francisco, Argentina, the city of his birth, from complications of COVID-19.

December

18 – Frankie Otero

Born in Havana and raised in Hialeah, Florida, the boyishly handsome Otero climbed up the lightweight rankings on club shows in Miami Beach where he had 43 of his 60 fights. He finished 49-9-2 (31) with two of his losses coming at the hands of Scotland’s renowned Ken Buchanan. At age 72 of bone cancer in Hialeah where he had a successful career in real estate and dabbled as a matchmaker.

23 – Frankie Randall

A three-time title-holder at 140 pounds, “The Surgeon” etched his name into boxing lore in 1994 when he outpointed Mexican icon Julio Cesar Chavez who was 89-0-1 going in. Frequently on the wrong side of a controversial decision, he finished 58-18-1 after losing 13 of his last 16, including a loss on points to Chavez in their rubber match in Mexico City when he was 42 years old. At age 59 at a nursing home in his hometown of Morristown, TN, where he had a long battle with dementia.

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For Whom the Bell Tolled: 2020 Boxing Obituaries PART ONE

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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